Wednesday’s Theme Music – History
Ashland, Oregon — April 15, 2025.
A gray dawn in Ashland. Rain is expected throughout the day as clouds gather and temperatures drift from the low forties to the low fifties. Temperatures are expected to drop into the low thirties tomorrow morning. A frost warning is in effect.
Reason.com reminded us of Trump and the emptiness of his declarations and claims. This one was about the national debt. Ten years ago, Trump said he would eliminate the national debt. Oh, the cheers he got for that.
They asked him, how long would it take? “Fairly quickly,” Trump replied. When pressed for a more specific answer, Trump provided a shocking timeline. “Well, I would say over a period of eight years.”
Analysis showed that Trump was blowing wind. His plans to eliminate the national debt was diametrically opposed to his plans to lower taxes. Lower taxes won.
The national debt was 19 trillion dollars ten years ago. It’s now 39 trillion dollars. President Biden added to it, but Trump has done most of the damage.
Put this in their with the other claims he’s made. That’s he’s the peace president. A unifier. That he was going to replace Obamacare with a much better plan. That Mexico would pay for the wall. That he would lower prices from day one. That he would drain the swamp, eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse.
That he would release the Epstein files on day one.
Sickening how much he has lied and done to destroy the nation. More sickeningly, so many Republicans still cheer him on.
Also in the news, SOUTHCOM reported that they’d destroyed another boat and killed four more people.
It was the fourth attack in four days. No war; no court; no evidence. No judge, jury, ruling. Just Trump ordering the US military to kill untried civilians.
Today’s song comes from 1986. The Neurons had nothing to do with it. I read the news and remembered “Bullet the Blue Sky” by U2. Inspired by what Bono witnessed the US military doing in El Salvador and Nicaragua under Reagan. Much like now, when Trump is using military force in the name of Christianity, morality, democracy, and freedom to kill others. Sadly, this is an American tradition. Trump is just being overt, boastful, and brazen about it.
It’s demoralizing and depressing, but angers me as well, watching Trump tear down our norms and violate the laws, throw his name on everything, build monuments to himself. Meanwhile, measles outbreaks are on the rise, food and gas prices are climbing, and Trump is killing and destroying in our name. Our national debt grows but worse is what he’s done to our reputation and morals.
I hope your Wednesday is filled with peace and grace, and that we can garner the voice and political will to move us toward a better future, like the future we were once moving toward.
Cheers
Sunday’s Theme Music
Ashland, Oregon — Sunday, February 22, 2026. Sunshine washes mountain conifers and hardwoods as ominous clouds float away, revealing a hazy blue sky. 51 degrees now, a 56 F high is projected.
Papi is enjoying the wind-free sunshine, soaking it up like his body was starving for it, then rolling around on the patio.
It’s quieter back east this morning as Mom tries again to reset everyone’s relationship with her back to what it was a month ago. She’s trying to engage allies to move her back home; all of her offspring agree, sorry, Mom, but where you’re at is the best situation for you. It’ll take a long time for Mom to accept that.
On top of that, though, sis reports that she’s sick today. While the stress didn’t help, neither did her daughter’s illness. It’s going around, and sis’s daughter didn’t take precautions to avoid contaminating others. Sigh.
News headlines were about an armed man being shot and killed at Mar-a-Lago and Trump raising tariffs, among others. The basic scan reveals a chaotic but quiet Sunday morning.
This is our new norm as Trump challenges norms and ignores lawful processes and limits, such as firing James W Hundley. The Trump administration failed to follow the process to have an AG appointed for Eastern Virginia. A law covers that contingency, and the Virginia judiciary followed that law, appointing Hundley. The Trump Administration promptly fired him without cause, despite him being legally appointed. And so, another legal battle ensues.
Just think, it was only a year ago that DOGE was spreading a swath of destruction across the federal government. We’re still learning the ramifications. Trump may consider himself the peace president and a uniter, but I see him as the President of Chaos, sowing and encouraging it, to no one’s benefit but his own.
It’s interesting to remember, too, that Trump first promised to ‘declassify’ the Epstein files while campaigning in June of 2024. Then he dismissed it as a hoax. Since then, We the People notice a continuous pattern that he delays and distracts. Meanwhile, in Europe, real justice is being pursued. They are setting the standard that the United States needs to follow. Although I do note that right now, they’re going after the former prince for divulging information and not other crimes, but other crimes are being investigated.
Sensing my mood, The Neurons have plucked Rush out of memory and put “Working Man” in the morning mental music stream. This is a song that says to me, you gotta keep doing what you need to do. That’s about how I feel for today. Press on regardless.
Lyrics h/t Genius.com
It seems to me I could live my life
A lot better than I think I am
I guess that’s why they call me
They call me the workin’ man
Let’s give a shout out to peace and grace, see if we can get them back into our lives and move forward into a better existence.
Cheers
Saturday’s Theme Music
Ashland, Oregon — Saturday, February 21, 2026. 40 F, the wind is beating the trees up. Sunshine intermittently brightens the world but someone spilled a can of mottle gray paint over the sky. Today’s high will be in the low fifties.
Great night of sleep, a few remembered dreams. My nose and nasal passages are about 90% clear today. Light, unproductive cough. Mucus discharge was thick and green, the first like that. Energy levels and focus are way up. It’s day 11 of my upper respiratory infection.
My mornings now include an hour catching up on text messages about Mom. She’s in assisted living, plans to stay there until the end of February, and then return to her home. We’re against that last, and so is everyone else in the world. But the system says, let her do as she chooses because she’s an adult. Our reasoning doesn’t sway her. I put out energy that she’ll change her mind, be happy, and stay where she’s at. At the same time, I respect all the changes she’s been enduring. That’s tough on anyone.
I’ve also been in conversations with others and know our problems with our aging parent is not that rare. We, as a society, need to figure out a better plan moving forward. This is not sustainable, and I want to spare others this sort of mess.
With all that’s going on — writing, politics, Mom — well, life — The Neurons have introduced “Roll with the Changes” into the morning mental music stream. REO Speedwagon released it back in the late 1970s, and I always enjoy its high energy. I think it’s perfect for shifting gears from recovering from sickness, dealing with Mom, and coping with the Trump cycles. In a way, I hope it presages a future where more SCOTUS decisions go against Trump and more people announce their disapproval of him and/or his policies. I also hope it foretells more names coming from the Epstein files and some justice for the people who abused others, and those who were abused. The Europeans are leading the way in this, so let’s hope that the truth emerges from across the ocean, as our government seems too eager to predict the guilty and damn the innocent.
Friends have invited us over to play games at their place with another couple, so I’ll be socializing. Going to go the whole nine yards — shower, shave, dress. LOL. I can imagine people responding, “Well, I hope so.”
My hope for you and me and us is that we all get a little more than the recommended daily minimum of grace and peace in our lives today, maybe enough to fertilize some optimism for where we’re going and who we are as a people and a nation. For now, I have coffee.
Cheers
Monday’s Theme Music
February 2, 2026, in Ashland. Colder today, as a cold front moved in last night. The sky was glassy clear and the moon boomed with bright light as temperatures fell into the high 20s. We’re recovering now, with temps up to 41 already under sunny conditions. Another dry day, we’re on our way to highs in the upper 50s to low 60s.
Reviewing the weather, much of North and South Carolina received more snow today than we’ve received all winter. We’re not a ridiculously snowy place in Ashland but it usually snows enough to paint the world white for a few days. If I was a conspiracy guy, I’d suggest that some evil overlords are testing a weather machine, aiming to see how the southern U.S. copes with winter conditions.
Speaking of evil overlords…
Trump’s shifted position on his aggressive immigration Minnesota policy. Daily Kos had a good summary, Why Trump is finally waving a white flag in Minnesota. Daily Kos points out, Alex Pretti is the reason for Trump’s shift.
ICE agents killed Alex Pretti in January in Minnesota during an ICE raid. Recorded by Minnesotans on their phones, the official narrative of another ‘domestic terrorist’ didn’t fit — Alex Pretti was young, white, male, an employed VA nurse, who arrived with a legal gun. Stacking this on top of the other narratives of death and violence, such as Nicole Good’s shooting death, Trump’s logic was suddenly toppling, taking his approval ratings with it.
That, as Daily Kos documented, is why the situation is changed in Minnesota.
Personally, I think it’s a victory. More critically, it reinforces the power of showing up, getting involved, and being witness, along with using phones to record what’s happening.
I expect Trump will launch another Minnesota surge in a different location. Trump’s softening stance is a politic move, not a change in attitude. He remains a bully, employing intimidation in attempts to dominate.
Another example of that tactic rose today, as Trump threatened to sue the Grammys over a Noah Trevor joke making fun of Trump.
“Noah said, incorrectly, about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. Wrong. I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media,” said Trump. “Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast. It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$.”
That bully, Trump, isn’t changing. We the People must remain alert to respond and stand up for our rights and each other, again, again, and again.
Reading over my shoulder, The Neurons were stirred to bring up a 1971 John Lennon, “Power to the People”. This is a cover made by Tom Morello, Bruce Springsteen, Ike Reilly, Al Di Meola, Rise Against on January 30, 2026, in Minnesota.
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
[Chorus]
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
[Verse 1]
Say we want a revolution
We better get it on right away
Well, get ya on your feet
Into the street
As Morello put it in the video, “We’re going to go out and kick ass in a peaceful way.”
Rock on into 2026 with peace and grace and the certainty that truth and justice will find its way forward again. Cheers
Sundaz Theme Music
Sunday, January 18, 2026, commenced as an extension of Friday and Saturday’s weather in Ashland. Dry, air stagnation continues from an inversion layer, making air unhealthy by trapping particles. Although now in the 30s to 40s — 32 degrees F at my house — blue sky and sunshine promise another venture into the sixties today.
Meaning temperatures in the 60s, of course, not the famous years of demonstrations, civil unrest, hippies, and war in the United States, the 1960s. Wait; that 60s may be coming, too, the way I.C.E. violently attacks We the People and Trump escalates military power to bully other nations.
As a 1960s teen, I watched confrontations between protestors and the Federal government on the television nightly news. Now, in 2026, I’m watching the news from Minnesota.
Minnesota has become the focal point of ICE tension in 2026. Trump ordered U.S. military troops in Alaska to be ready for deployment to Minnesota. Minnesota has National Guard ready in response to the ongoing unrest tied to ICE enforcement in Minneapolis.
That’s an interesting inversion of the 1960s, when state governments used national guard units to enforce segregation. Presidents Eisenhower (Republican) and Kennedy (Democrat) responded by Federalizing the national guard or sending in military troops to enforce court rulings.
Back in the 1960s, the perception was that states were resisting change and wanted to continue treating Blacks as lessor individuals, with fewer rights.
Now, Trump is trying to treat anyone who doesn’t support him and his policies as lessor individuals, with fewer rights, and using ICE to bully people into submission. Then, as now, race and power were key issues.
It’s not overly surprising. Progress is uneven. A relatively young nation — just 250 years old — the United States is still adjusting to this whole idea of We the People, with freedom, justice, and equality for all.
It’s a classic situation. Who has the most rights, Federal government, state government, or We the People? Trump’s posture is usually, “The State is Me, and I have the power.” He also claims that We the People gave him the power when he won the support to be POTUS, completely warping the concept that he’s the people’s servant.
After the morning news scan, The Neurons offer Dropkick Murphys and “Citizen I.C.E.” in the morning mental music stream. Not my usual genre, so I wasn’t familiar with the song, learning of it through Crooks & Liars. Watching the Minneapolis crucible to see what happens today, “Citizen I.C.E.” emerges as a worthy theme song.
May your day satisfy your needs today and start an upward trend of good things happening for you. I’m going to address my needs with a little coffee now, if you don’t mind. Cheers
Twozdaz Wandering Political Thoughts
The net has a few comments catching my attention today.
It is January 6 and we have the fifth anniversary of Trump’s first attempted coup to remember.
MPS offers a succinct reminder.
Never forget that Republicans voted for this. Three times. That’s your root-cause analysis right there.
Michael Seidel, writer 