Tag: history

Saturday’s Theme Music

February 7, 2026. Ashland greets me and Saturday with overcast skies and 47 F. Yes, will it rain, snow? Not cold enough for the latter, it’s been a month since significant rain fell.

Today’s high will be in the mid-fifties and precipitation isn’t forecast for today. A Facebook graphic (posted at the bottom) gives visuals to our worries. We keep reminding ourselves, it’s still only February.

Playing with dreams, interacting with Papi, reading the news, and waiting for updates from sis occupies my morning. Papi remains a positive, casual spirit, slipping by my legs in an orange-fur kiss. Dreams are erotic and intriguing.

The news, ah. I enjoy reviews of how insipid the “Melania” documentary seems. Emerging as a vehicle to support Trump’s spin that Melania is so smart and interesting, the quotes and stills reminds me of how flat and empty she always appears.

The documentary set a record for opening day box office receipts for that category. Anecdotally, the theaters have been almost empty. Online, Rotten Tomatoes is a perfect metaphor for this era, critics there granting the movie an 8% approval while ‘audiences’ give it 99%.

That’s so perfectly aligned with this era.

Over in life with Mom, Mom is going through another breakdown. Sis recorded one of the conversations she and Mom had, when sis delivered Mom dinner.

Mom refused to eat and kept telling sis, “You’re not the boss of me.” The split arose because a nurse is coming to see Mom. Mom wanted more time to get ready but Sis works and had to be there to meet the nurse and let her in. Mom needed more time because she wants to hide her medication collection and clean herself up. Mom also accused sis of poisoning her.

Sis couldn’t change plans. Mom spent the night crying and moaning, “I don’t want to be here,” curling up at 6:30 this morning to go to sleep. The nurse was due at 10. The appointment should have taken place; I’m awaiting reports.

In reporting, though, I’ve noticed subtle shifts in sis’s attitude towards Mom. She’s become more reflective, tolerant, and patience.

UPDATE: Sis explained all to the nurse and suggested it sounds like — drum roll — dementia. It was an anti-climatic moment. She suggested Mom needs to see a neurologist. Also — Mom may have a UTI. That wouldn’t be a surprise.

I end up with “Heaven” by the Talking Heads in my morning mental music stream, a quiet little song about a place everyone wants to reach, where they do — nothing but chill. Relax. And like that, The Neurons summon Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Hah!

Hope your day is joyous, and satisfying to you in meaningful ways. I’ll take what I can get, here and now, and try to move on to something better.

Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

It’s a day of conflicting signals. Friday, February 6, 2026. Ashland began at 37 F at my house. Yesterday was gorgeous, dry as summer, warm as spring. Today has the southern sky hazy with a little gray with blue commanding the remaining vista. Highs will escalate into the mid to upper 60s.

Papi and I enjoyed sunshine in the back. He rolled around in warm grass while I cheered, declining his invitation to join him rolling around. Returning inside, I offered him some of my morning coffee, which he declined with a mild golden-eyed gaze.

I perused the news with a little edge of worry about what might have happened overnight or in the early hours. Yes, there was more bad news.

Trump posted an immature video on his social media account depicting former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys. After immediate and widespread criticism, the video was removed and a staffer was blamed.

Unfortunately, I think it undermines Trump’s assertions of being a unifier or peace president. Consistent, emerging patterns keep showing Trump as the opposite of peace and unity. His silence since matters as much as the initial posting, as a unifier would be out front, apologizing and taking responsibility.

Some probably theorize that Trump was trying to reinvigorate his base or that sharing the video was an effort to distract from the growing Epstein noise, or the less than impressive TrumpRx rollout. They may be correct, for all I know. Trump remains opaque and transparent.

The Neurons ended up feeding me “December” by Collective Soul in my morning mental music stream. I sang along, “Don’t scream aloud, don’t think aloud, turn your head, now baby, just spit me out.” A song written out of hope and frustration, it feels like a fitting song for today, after Trump disparaged the Obamas, who offered hope when they loved in the White House.

I hope Friday finds you safe and healthy. May peace and grace hold and carry you.

Cheers

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Wednesday’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Once again, I read news that made me want to scream

Super Bowl LX will be this Sunday, February 8. The game will coronate either the Seattle Seahawks or the New England Patriots as the NFL’s champions.

Part of the annual spectacle is the halftime show, which expanded from marching bands in early years to a huge production with significant musical headliners. This year’s show is headlined by Bad Bunny and Green Day.

Bad Bunny is one of the current era’s hottest young entertainers. The Bad Bunny choice has agitated conservatives. Many decree Bad Bunny as a bad choice because they want an American, and they don’t like that he sometimes performs in Spanish.

I was floored. A Puerto Rican, Bad Bunny often performs in Spanish, because that’s a natural language in his area. I want to scream at them, “Don’t you understand that Puerto Rico is part of the United States? Bad Bunny is an American.”

Their ignorance is probably one reason Bad Bunny performs in Spanish.

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Cold ruled Ashland last night. Temperatures fell into the high 20s in my zone but, guided by sunshine and clear skies, we’re pressing into the upper 60s today. It’s 57 F now.

It’s still a dry winter for us, and a concern because of the impact of the missing snow on the rest of the year. The NYTimes published an article quantifying the situation this week.

I’m late with my posting because early running around was required. My wife’s big do was on Sunday. Maybe things were rented and borrowed. We had to wash and clean it all and returned it today.

The do was a success, celebrating Mary Bergstrom’s fifty years as a exercise instructor with our Family Y. Mary is still going strong after all those years and remains beloved by her students. My wife was asked to organize it and did a great job, although it was intense at times and not without conflict, irritation, and frustration. It’s all done now, another memory to pull out.

Meanwhile, as I watch Trump’s grip on the United States flailing, as shown in approval polls, he joked about canceling the 2026 elections, and then mused about taking over elections in ‘some’ states. Those would be the states run by Democrats, blue states which challenge his assault on our norms, traditions, and laws.

Many, including me, immediately jumped up with notice that Trump is always insisting that he’s for state rights, the foundation for his moves to reduce the Federal government’s size and regulations. As always, Trump’s logic is conditional. He’s for something until it’s in his interests to be against it. In short, whatever most benefits Trump will be his political position.

Personally, I consider this another distraction tactic. He distracted from the Epstein files with ICE surges and military actions amid more threats to sue others. Meanwhile, he also tore down the White House East Wing, obsessed over Greenland, and whined against not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He also declared affordability was a hoax, but that inflation was ‘fixed’, like he’d darned a hole in a sock.

So now, here we go again, with Trump defiling something that works under the guise, “It’s broken and only he can fix it”. We hear this from him, yet he keeps breaking more things, making things worse for many of us. All I’ll say about it now.

For music today, The Neurons have me humming, “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues”, as it plays in my morning mental music stream. The 1983 Elton John offering is a mellow reflection of love, living, remembering, and being, easily slotting into my state at the moment.

I hope that life brings you grace, peace, and good health today and every day. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Ashland settles into Friday, January 30, 2026, with a long sigh of clouds. 46 F now, we don’t expect it to get much hotter or colder. We’re still looking for our first winter snow.

In other U.S. regions, snow and ice remain big problems. Power outages continue, communities are digging out, but more snow is on the way in several places.

Turning to political ICE, ICE remains a problem for too many as another ICE detainee’s January death was a homicide. Add Geraldo Lunas Campos to the list of deaths beside Keith Porter, Renee Nicole Good, and Alex Pretti.

A new story highlights that ICE is converting warehouses and industrial buildings located by 23 towns around the United States. Each is expected hold thousands. Concerns emerge about the conditions of those buildings and the impact on local fresh water supplies. The Trump ICE team plows on regardless of worries that We the People express. Trump is in charge, and ICE is going to remind you, it’s the Trump way or else.

These new Trump ICE facilities are in addition to existing facilities.

Trump was called out for lying — again. The subject was California and Walmart. Trump claimed that California’s minimum wage was too much for WalMart, and WalMart was closing stores. Trump stated that California’s minimum wage is $22 per hour but it’s $16.90, except for fast-food workers, paid $20 per hour.

Trump claimed WalMart was closing 250 California stores. “This isn’t accurate information,” an unnamed Walmart spokesperson told CNN. “In fact, we actually just recently opened a new store in California.”

CNN calls Trump’s claims ‘wildly inaccurate’. Based on Trump’s extensive catalogue as a serial liar, I think Trump’s claims can safely be declared another lie.

The Neurons have Faith No More singing “Epic” from 1990 in the morning mental music stream.

“Epic” Lyrics

Can you feel it, see it, hear it today?
If you can’t, then it doesn’t matter anyway
You will never understand it, ’cause it happens too fast
And it feels so good, it’s like walking on glass
It’s so cool, it’s so hip, it’s alright
It’s so groovy, it’s outta sight
You can touch it, smell it, taste it, so sweet
But it makes no difference ’cause it knocks you off your feet, say

The song mostly just rhymes to a heavy beat, challenging you to follow the logic. It fits as today’s theme music because following such hollow logic is how it is for me with MAGA and Trump. What’s the logic, and how does it hold?

I find many Trump and MAGA claims effectively hold up as solidly as a brown paper bag in water. Affordability and the assertion that Trump is the Peace President — and a unifier — sit at the top of the messed-up logic pyramid. MAGA and Trump both keep squirming away from the truth, but the truth is rising faster than the new Trump ballroom.

The trick at this point is not to become inured or complacent, or as worse, too weary and drained to respond. Thom Hartmann wrote about the dangers, and Jill Dennison shared it for us. A good read, it’s a necessary reinforcement, this is not the end or beginning; we’re in the middle.

I hope peace and grace finds you and keeps you warm, safe, strong, and healthy — today and every day. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Thursday, January 29, 2026, arrived in Ashland, bleakly overcast, 46 degrees. A high of 55 F is forecasted for us.

“Looks like rain,” my wife said. I nodded, agreeing. Papi meowed for food.

We need snow but it’s been a while since we’ve had serious precipitation in Ashland, invoking drought memories. With drought comes more wildfires, stirring recall of the 2020 Almeda fire, which destroyed several neighborhoods, almost wiping out entire towns. Rebuilding continues more than five years later.

It feels like it echoes Yogi Berra’s observation, “It’s deja vu all over again.”

I met with friends for beers and chats last night. As we discussed ICE in Minnesota and the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two members reminded us of another ICE killing. Keith Porter was killed on December 31st in Los Angeles. He had a rifle and was shooting it into the air to celebrate the New Year. Not illegal, but an off-duty ICE agent shot and killed Keith Porter for it.

Three dead, all from innocuous actions. ICE’s record for killing U.S. citizens while aggressively hunting ‘illegal immigrants’ darkly disturbs me.

I hope there will be justice for Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti. I’m not sure if that’s possible in the U.S. with Trump in charge. Trump suggested that Renee Good was a terrorist who deserved to die, an allegation given without evidence.

More depressing, those three deaths are just the headline news. Other reports have ICE is responsible for the deaths of eight people in 2026. It’s not even the end of January yet.

Some glimmer of optimism was found on Daily Kos. Mark Sumner summarized how Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who killed Renee Good, might be prosecuted, citing previous legal rulings and the courses which might be followed. I read it and took deep breaths.

I’m not overly hopeful but there is a glimmer. Part of my negativity stems from several simple facts in the cases and rulings Sumner cited: law enforcement killing citizens is more deja vu all over again.

Trying to break out of the cloud of general malaise now falling on me, The Neurons have a Cake song organized in the morning mental music stream. My friend and I were chatting last night, and I was telling him about this song, “Short Skirt Long Jacket”. He wasn’t familiar with it, though I sang it to him and everything. Should have just pulled out my phone, right? I realized that an hour too late.

Anyway, the bouncy song is now rooted in me, so let’s play it, sing along, and maybe smile a bit.

May peace and grace find us and save us from this cycle of ICE killing, and may justice be served. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Wandering Political Thoughts

A list of posts and columns have helped me crystalize thinking about the current Trump Administration, ICE, and Minnesota evennts.

As with many Americans, I’m grieving Alex Pretti’s death. ICE agents shot him to death, and video evidence contradicts Homeland Security’s claims that agents were defending themselves.

One, I’m for standing up for our rights, and fully support the freedom to assemble, protest, and demonstrate.

I’m less enthusiastic about the 2nd Amendment and gun violence in the United States. However, Alex Pretti’s death wasn’t due to him having a gun. Pretti had a gun, but obeyed the rules and laws 2nd Amendment advocates have established in the last fifty years.

Secondly, the Trump Administration are tangling themselves up trying to create space between the Kyle Rittenhouse and the Alex Pretti situations. Rittenhouse, a teenager, illegally carried a firearm across state lines to a protest and shot three people in 2020, killing two. This was deemed justified.

Alex Pretti had a legally procured handgun, which he didn’t draw. ICE agents beat him on the ground and then shot Pretti, a nurse. Some witnesses reported that Pretti was shot ten times.

Paul Krugman takes up the arguments in “Was This a Murder Too Far?“ He notes that in the first ICE killing in Minneapolis, the MAGA faithful closed ranks and blamed the victim.

When Good was killed on January 7th, the Trump administration circled the wagons, insisting that Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot her, was defending himself as she tried to run him down. A close look at the videos showed that this was a lie: Ross leaned into the car to shoot her at close range through the windshield, not something you would do if you thought a car was about to run you over. He then shot her twice more through the side window as the car rolled by in front of him, one of those shots being fatal.

But the MAGA faithful closed ranks, echoing the party line that she was a militant terrorist, albeit one with a dog in the back of the car, who smiled and said soothing words to her killer. Per usual, business remained silent as Good’s character was slandered. And so it looked as if the Trumpists would just bull through with impunity as they had many times before.

Krugman contrasts Good’s death with what happened when ICE shot and killed Alex Pretti, a legally armed.

Media coverage has been much clearer than the coverage after Good’s death. As I was writing this, the Wall Street Journal headline read “Videos Contradict U.S. Account of Minneapolis Shooting”. After some initial equivocation, the New York Times is calling out administration lies and featuring a chilling moment-by-moment analysis of videos showing what really happened.

Big corporations based in Minnesota, after staying completely silent, have finally said something, even if it’s just an anodyne call for “de-escalation of tensions.”

Centrist Democrats, who have spent weeks trying to ignore Minneapolis so they could talk about the price of eggs, are finally taking a stand and appear ready to vote against another round of DHS funding. And several Republicans are now speaking out.

The NRA and other gun groups are now calling for a full investigation of Pretti’s murder, angry that the DHS justifies the execution of Pretti because he was, entirely legally, in possession of a gun. Even Fox News’ s Maria Bartiromo, a tireless Trump cheerleader, sounded patently skeptical when questioning Kash Patel about DHS’s outlandish claims.

ICE remains in Minnesota. Several changes have taken place. The two agents who killed Alex Pretti are on leave. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, a visible presence in Minnesota, left for California.

I keep wondering, what will happen next? In Comment on This: Trump will Steal Election 2026, The Psy of Life posted a suggestion Trump might steal the 2026 midterms.

Trump has joked about not having elections in 2026. Jokes are Trump’s means of putting something out there to see who reacts. Trump also demonstrates no interest in states’ rights, the Constitution, laws, or checks and balances, except as props when he needs a word salad to rationalize events.

Mary Trump reminds us who Trump is in a Substack post, “The Tipping Point”. (Kudos to Nan for making me aware of it.)

When called to serve in Vietnam, he deferred five times. He and his father engaged in racist rental practices so egregious that they were sued by Richard Nixon’s DOJ in 1973. His businesses declared bankruptcy six times between 1991 and 2009. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he disparaged military officers who died while serving their country; mocked a disabled reporter; and insinuated that Sen. John McCain, a legitimate war hero, was a coward. In the Hollywood Access tape, he admitted to sexually harassing women. In 2023, a jury of his peers found him liable for defaming and sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll. A year later, another jury found that he had “acted in malice when he denied Carroll’s allegations” and awarded her $83.3 million. That same year, he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records (also by a jury of his peers) and his company was ordered to pay $450 million in damages.

Moving forward, we need to keep in mind what Trump did in business and life before.

Like, what’s information the Epstein Files reveals about Trump that he doesn’t want us to know?

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Monday’s Theme Music

Monday, January 26, 2026, has landed. Frigid cold holds much of the U.S. Ashland in Oregon remains 40 degrees and dry, but partly cloudy, with a high of 57 F expected this afternoon.

Much of my attention shifts between Minnesota, Trump in general, and the winter storm, Fern. My general reflections at this point make me think that the U.S. is in danger of becoming a wasteland, a rich center for the wealthy but a miserable place for the rest. As education and norms are peeled away and freedom is squashed, the future has a bleaker look to it.

For what, many of us ask? We know Trump is the figurehead and has enabled others to act on his behalf. More, the Project 2025 authors are driving it. Their intention seems to be, tear it all down, and then we’ll rebuild in an image of our own making. The image seems to be, believe in our God, buy our goods, and keep your opinions to yourself. In return, we’ll call you free, and remind that this is America, land of the free and home of the brave.

And if you resist, we will vilify, harass, and even shoot you. We will gas you and strip you of your dignity and rights.

To which We the People reply, bring it on.

Today’s music is brought to you by The Neurons. They identified “Baba O’Riley” by The Who as ideal theme music for this final Monday in January, 2026.

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don’t need to fight
To prove I’m right
I don’t need to be forgiven

Don’t cry
Don’t raise your eye
It’s only teenage wasteland

Sally, take my hand
We’ll travel south ‘cross land
Put out the fire, don’t look past my shoulder
The exodus is here
The happy ones are near
Let’s get together before we get much older

h/t to songmeanings.com

So let’s continue getting together and stand up for the United States that we believe in, a nation where we can criticize the government without threats of lawsuits or violence, a nation of elected officials who believe they work for We the People to help us all rise and be stronger, safer, and freer, and not just a privileged few.

Hope it’s a grand, safe day for you, one that helps establish a firm foundation for the needs ahead. Cheers

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At the Moment

Middle age

Young age

Old age

A childhood time

Post modernism

Pre-industrial

Eras we define

Space age

Information age

Net age

Here we come

Knowledge at our fingertips

Truth is on the run

Thinking

Wishing

Wondering what will be

How will history

Change this age

Of truth

Of change

Of greed?

Sitting on the cusp

Of something

Trying to make sense

How long can this go on

With so many

On the fence?

If you ask me what it means

Uncertainty arises

I think I know what I see

I’m not sure

I like it

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