Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
A physical therapist showed up at my sister’s house. My sister — a physical therapist — was surprised, because the therapist was there for Mom.
Sis explained that Mom was living at Heritage Grove now. The therapist replied, “This is the address I have for her.”
Mom’s been at HG since late February.
It’s one of those things that make you go, hmmmmmm, and wonder about record-keeping.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Wednesday, June 24, 2026.
Sunny and summery, blue skies, high of 91 today.
Mom’s doctor asked my sister to bring Mom in today. They’re heading there as I type. This was in response to Mom asking sis to call the doctor for her, because Mom said she was too busy to call for herself. My sister called last night and they want to see Mom today.
We’re into the Grand Illusion part of Trump’s second term. Increasingly disconnected from reality and voters, he keeps insisting, we won the war and everything is great!
Despite his claims, Trump’s popularity continues its freefall. This is especially true in economic matters, where a stubborn 26% still thinks he’s great for the economy. 73% say the economy is worsening under Trump.
Headlines were full of a historic bi-partisan housing bill Congress passed. That was an hour ago.
Now, headlines have shot up that Trump won’t sign the affordable bill unless Congress pass the SAVE Act.
I hope that doesn’t happen. The SAVE BS has been floating around for a while, an artificial attempt to solve a fake problem: voter fraud. In reality, it makes it more difficult for people to vote, especially if they’re facing financial hardships. Trump and the GOP believes that will give them an advantage.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Trump wants the SAVE Act to pass because Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! keeps floundering, what with Algaegate and the Lincoln Reflecting Pool debacle; the backlash to ICE; and the mess and exposed lies of the Epstein ballroom.
All this — ballroom, war, reflecting pool — is to keep Trump’s name in the Epstein files hidden from the American public. Despite a law that says that all of the Epstein files will be released, with certain protections.
Despite Trump’s promises to release the Epstein files. Trump then pivoted and insisted that they were a hoax.
All this is part of Trump’s Grand Illusion. That’s he’s a genius and very healthy, the healthiest ever. That the economy is going well. That he’s for peace and would never condone violence.
The record on all of this speaks for itself.
Today’s song is “Perfect Illusion” by Lady Gaga. Not a surprise. I was thinking about control and the toll the pressure is taking on Trump. Those are almost the exact words which open the song.
Ashland, southern Oregon — Monday, June 22, 2026.
It’s a Mon-dah. Kind of eh at this point.
We’re cruising through the seventies in our valley. Degrees, I mean, not years; the 1970s would be way too modern for Trump and the MAGAts. On our way to the region of 95 F today. Blue sky. No clouds. Browning greens.
In an aside, Trump and his MAGAts is a good name for a failed punk rock band. They dreamed big but their guitars had no strings. The drummer had no bass. All anyone heard was Trump the vocalist, shouting words.
Mom and Gina are skirmishing back home again. It remains about ‘Mom’s pills’. This is actually a good sign, as Mom is again in a fighting mood and is in the moment. Gina is displaying remarkable calm and patience with Mom. Mom said, “That’s funny that you think these people are better at giving us our meds and they don’t know an aspirin from a Tylenol.”
Gina replied, “Well everything is labeled for them and they know what day it is and they document everything.”
2026 drones on with Trump in weak command of a flopping economy and low popularity. Revealing again that he’s absolutely out of reach with reality, Trump tried to pump up his ego by claiming how great everything is going. All but the MAGAts know Trump lies.
Trump touts “best economy ever.” What the data shows
Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! continues to decline into Operation Epic Dead Squirrel. Trump is thumping war drums over Iran again, pitching the same spiel that he used months ago — “They’d better, or else!” — as he blusters about Iran.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool continues as a fabled metaphor for Trump’s miscalculations and flophouse execution. He’s proven again, everything that he touches withers, except for his grifts. They flourish, especially with the GOP covering him, and control of the Department of Justice. Like a caveman, he uses the Department of Justice as a club to try to beat others down.
He launched another of his endlessly screeching Truth Social texts about the New York Times last night. They published an article about the useless and unneeded Iran war Trump ended, and the way he fizzled through negotiations like wet black powder.
Trump used the same strong language he always invokes when aggrieved:
“The way the Corrupt and Failing New York Times is covering stories on a very battered and beat up Iran, through FAKE & MADE UP ‘FACTS’ is, in my opinion, ‘TREASONOUS. I will be adding all of their false and ridiculous reporting to my multi Billion Dollar lawsuit against them. They are Criminals!”
In classic Trump writing, he projects himself: corrupt; failing; treasonous; ridiculous.
I have “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers playing in the morning mental music stream. Came about from looking at photos of the area around the White House. Employing my Trump writing style, I’ll elaborate:
“The WH lawn looks TERRIBLE! So NASTY! It is the worse it has looked in its Entire History! HORRIBLE!!! DISGRACEFUL!!! tRump and the Awful Repuglicants should be in prison for WHAT THEY’VE DONE!!! It’s A Crime for what they’ve done to the home of We The People!!!”
The song arose because its first line mentions ‘coming out of my cage’. As I’d been looking at the UFC ‘cage’, the Neurons — never very awake — thought that I was singing to myself about a cage, and well…here we are.
Hope your Mon-dah is better and progresses with peace, joy, and good health.
Cheers
Saturday, June 20, 2026 — Ashland, southern Oregon.
We’re on the threshold of summer, among other things. Cool this day. Sitting at 75 degrees, 85 F is the expected high. I’ll accept that all day, especially when it cools at night.
Aging is a wrecking ball on Mom. She’s already gone through her new meds for an infection. The next pill was supposed to be tomorrow, three days after the first. But she thought she took the first one on Tuesday and then took the second on Friday. Insists she’s right because the date on the pills say June 16.
But my sister, Gina, picked up the pills on Wednesday, June 21, and took them to Mom. Showed Mom the screen notification from June 17 that shows the pills are ready for pick up. Mom refuses to admit she’s wrong.
Speaking of wrecking balls, how ’bout that MOU with Iran to cease hostilities? Seems like it’s already fracturing.
Part of that MOU was that the Strait of Hormuz would be open. Headline today:
Now it’s descended into another little pissing contest about whether the strait is closed and what caused the breach that enraged Iran.
As a wrecking ball of a president, former President Obama remains the most popular living POTUS, former or current, with a favorability rating of 59%. Trump came in just above former President Biden, at 39%.
I expect those positions between former POTUS Biden and Trump to slowly reverse with aging. Trump’s Iran disaster is still sinking in, as is the mess Trump has made with the once beautiful Lincoln Reflecting Pool. Those not part of the MAGA cult will turn more on Trump as his economic policies continue tanking and his many broken promises and claims sting more people. Like:
Then there’s his absolute grifting. Trump is getting wealthier; billionaires and millionaires are doing well. But most of We the People are not feeling it. Although the national average gas price gas dipped to about $4.00 a gallon and consumer confidence ticked up a little, average Americans are feeling the stress of inflation and high costs. 45% have canceled their vacation plans for the year.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Today’s music is “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus. It’s because I often think of lyrics wrong. I was thinking about rainbows, because it’s Pride Month. To me, Miley sounds like she’s singing, “I came in like a rainbow.”
Wrong! The right lyrics are, “I came in like a wrecking ball.”
Doesn’t matter to My Neurons. They’re still singing “I came in like a rainbow” in the morning mental music stream.
Sing it along with me. In the name of Pride.
May your day be free of wrecking balls and their impact.
Cheers
Ashland, southern Oregon — Friday, June 16, 2026.
Cooler forecast for today: 85 F. Thunderstorms and lightning are in the mix, making people apprehensive about lightning strikes and wildfires.
We had the windows open last night at 10.
“I smell smoke,” I said.
My wife agreed. “It smells strong.”
I went around closing windows and turned on a few exhaust fans. Then spent half an hour on different channels/media, trying to find where the smoke was coming from, what the threat was. 11 PM, I stepped out and took a deep breath.
Smoke smell gone.
Well, good. I returned inside and opened a few windows to continue cooling the house.
I’m a little groggy today. It’s a privileged whine, as I stayed up reading to finish a book, “Yesteryear”. I enjoyed it a great deal. Excellent satire. That’s the third terrific book I’ve read this month, the others being “James” and “A Drop of Corruption”.
All quiet with Mom. Mom is feeling better and asked when my sister, Gina, could come and visit with her, have a ‘real’ visit. Gina had to defer as her plate is filled with being parent & grandparent, taking care of Mom’s affairs, and working. There are also several graduations. It also happens that her vacation, planned for next week. It’s a trip down to the NC coast, where they’ve been going a decade, a small luxury to help her recharge. The house closing is set for July 17. She’s investigating whether it can be moved back, and whether she wants to.
Yesterday’s news was about the Iran truce deal. That was early hours. Later hours had Trump blustering about bombing Iran again if he’s not happy with the deal and how he thinks Iran is doing.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and Trump’s crowing about ‘fixing it’ is just like the Iran war. Trump complained about how the reflecting pool was, hired a crony to fix it and now it’s worse.
Trump starts something, boasts about how much greater he will make, and then it turns out it’s not. It becomes a recurring pattern of stupid is, stupid does.
The latest news out of the training facilities in San Antonio, Texas reflects the same pattern. The “I Know Better” administration decided flu vaccinations are not mandatory, but voluntary. About 40% of trainees opted IN for the flu vaccines. Now there’s 159 cases of flu reported and one recruit is dead. Way to go, Trump! Way to ensure the military is in top form and able to respond.
News yesterday included a report that a new Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) poll of 5,469 adults found that 59% now believe Trump is a “dangerous dictator”. Last year showed 56% of Americans thought that, while the poll results in March resulted in 52%.
Acting quietly, it appears that the Trump administration secretly moved taxpayer’s money to pay for the Epstein ballroom construction. After often and loudly proclaiming that the US taxpayer wouldn’t need to pay for any of it, Trump asked Congress for the money and was denied. Now, using his standard tactics, Trump is siphoning and moving money to pay for it, money that Congress earmarked for other matters.
Is it any wonder that most of us see Trump as a dangerous dictator?
That’s just one of a multiple of reasons.
It’s all sticking on Trump now. Trump’s economic approval rating is at 33%, below the lowest rating that President Biden ever had.
Today’s song is “That Was Yesterday”. This is a rock ballad by Foreigner released in 1985 about a failed relationship. The Neurons plugged it into my morning mental music stream when I was talking with my wife this morning about the news. Something she said caused me to laughingly respond, “Well, that was yesterday.” The Neurons, being the inattentive buggers which they are, thought I wanted to hear the song and fired it up. Now I must pass it on to you.
The video begins with the end of some other song before it leaps into today’s music. Just bear with it, okay?
Hope your day follows positive twists and turns as you make your way from yesterday until tomorrow.
Cheers
Ashland, southern Oregon — Tuesday, June 16, 2026.
95 will be today’s high. Blue sky, sunshine, 71 F right now.
We’re in a mini-limbo with Mom’s house sale. One set of inspections is done, and it’s not bad. Repairs and issues are underway. Some are due to the house’s age. For instance, back in the day, a window in the bathroom sufficed; fans weren’t needed. Now, with the house changing hands, code stipulates bathroom fans. And the dryer duct came undone. Stuff like that.
I used to tease Mom about her old washer and dryer. Both were ‘low value’ purchases. Didn’t match: Whirlpool and GE. She bought the dryer shortly after moving in back in ’95. The house had a washer but then needed to be replaced around ’99. But those two pieces have chugged along. Same with the old gas range. We siblings pitched together to buy her a portable dishwasher from Sears one Mother’s Day in the late nineties. My brother-in-laws installed it as a permanent piece in the early 00s. Still works as well.
Mom’s house is full of things that were old but worked well. She always took care of it all.
My dental appointments didn’t go well yesterday. These are about surgical dental implants. I had the surgery a year ago. The site that remains had a cyst removed and needed more time to recover. Well, yesterday’s ‘click tests’ with that tiny torque wrench show that it needs more time. So the next steps — installing the implant — were pushed back six weeks.
Ironically, I’d changed the implant date, June 25, to July, because it clashed with my scheduled bladder surgery. Oh, well.
It feels like D.C. and Trump has entered a sort of stasis. That’s my opinion from ‘out here’. One, Trump’s war with Iran is ‘over’. We’re all digesting its consequences. Two, Trump is definitely physically and mentally run down. I don’t give a damn about official reports. We can see it in whenever he appears in public, and can read it when he sends out midnight texts.
Those texts remind me of my mother’s bout with sundowner syndrome, BTW. She was also sending them in the middle of the night and they also made little sense.
The economy and systems are all also giving the signals about what Trump’s unchecked actions have wrought. Additionally, the judicial system is pushing back. Many Trump initiatives have become a tug of war in courts, things like his ICE deportation policies, ICE killing of US citizens, renaming the Kennedy Center, building the Epstein ballroom, the tariffs…it’s a long list.
The trends are clear. Trump acts fast, asserting permission with arrogance. Shock travels the affected. Reactions set in. Legal actions are raised against Trump. Courts rule. Trump often loses but appeals decisions, frequently changing legal tactics.
All of that is Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! to cover his enormous stealing, his insider stock trading, his underhanded grifting.
It’s all slowly catching up, leading to the mid-term confrontations. I’m sure Trump rushed to a deal now because he’s trying to save face and gain back support before the mid-terms. I’m sure he believes he can gain some support with Freedom 250 and the Great American State Fair, and the pageantry planned for that.
The problem with his plan remains: he is Trump. He’ll make it about himself.
He is Trump. He refuses to understand that his policies have failed, and that’s why voters are turning against him.
So, he is Trump. He will lash out.
Our question remains, how?
Today’s song ends up being “The Man” by The Killers.
Sample Lyrics:
Don’t need no advice
I got a plan
I know the direction
The lay of the land
I know the score like the back of my hand
Them other boys
I don’t give a damn
I’m the man, come round
No-no-nothing can break, no-nothing can break me down
I’m the man, come round and
No-no-nothing can break, you can’t break me down
The 2017 song was written about the POV that you feel invincible when you’re young. That makes sense.
The song came to the morning mental music stream when I was thinking about Trump and the morning news. And I realized that the song is apt for the day because a large part of Trump is his immaturity. He remains a person who thinks himself invincible.
I hope you have an excellent day, full of peace and grace, no matter the weather or season wherever you are.
Cheers
Ashland, southern Oregon – Monday, June 15, 2026.
Another hot day in the valley. Blue sky was tinged with smoke from a fire north of us. That smoke has receded.
The temperature now is 89 degrees. Today’s high will be 99 F.
A late start for me today, as we had Food & Friends deliveries. A sadly short list is one way to look at it, because we wonder, what happened to the people previously. On the other hand, less people need the service, right! At least in our area and the route we do. The truth is, we don’t know, and can only guess.
Mom’s home buyer backed out. The realtor ascribed it to cold feet as the reports and inspections had not even been completed. Our realtor is going to talk to the second-ranked buyer to see if they’re still interested.
Our big news is that Trump celebrated his 80th birthday and stayed awake! He held a UFC event, Operation Epic IT’S ALL ABOUT ME! on the White House south lawn, a solid performer under Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! umbrella of distractions.
Trump is a peace president. A violent blood fight at the home of We the People is a perfect demonstration of how much his words really mean.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
When Trump said, “I would never condone violence,” it had an asterisk. Trump only condones violence to celebrate himself, to entertain himself, to distract others from his grift and corruption, have people riot and try to overturn the election, and to kill other people via the military to show how tough he is. Otherwise, he would never condone violence.
Trump says peace is at hand with Iran. I don’t believe him. He’s lied too many times to accept at face value.
News analysis of the peace deal with Iran shows that many of the goals Trump stated when he started the war is unmet.
Trump said that his war saved Israel from nuclear extinction. Trump also said that the bombings he ordered last June, 2025, destroyed Iran’s nuclear program. And he had already claimed victory dozens of times earlier this year. He claimed that the war would be over by April 22, 2026.
Trump always insists that everyone is lying, especially the media. “Fake news!” he shouts. Documentation shows he’s done it well over 1,000 times.
Yet, he wants us to believe them now, when they report that ‘he’s won’. How can we when he’s conditioned us to disbelieve everything being said?
Trump’s name has been removed from the Kennedy Center. The Epstein ballroom is still illegally under construction. There are stories that the work Trump had done at the Lincoln Reflecting Pool is shoddy and already coming apart. Just like his lies, isn’t it?
Let’s see how much he starts caring about inflation now that he’s declared his war with Iran over.
In honor of Trump’s White House fight, My Neurons summoned an old disco-oriented song to the morning mental music stream. Carl Douglas wrote and performed “Kung Fu Fighting” in August of 1974. A global hit, it was on the radio often and I heard it often as I finished high school, graduated, and joined the military. I always thought it a silly song but it hooks me with the lyrics and melody.
I hope your day comes with good news and a good life.
Got to run now. Two dental appointments. First in Medford, the next in Ashland. It’s all about my final implant, where the cyst was removed from my gums.
Cheers
Ashland, southern Oregon — Sunday, June 14, 2026.
Summer is set to officially begin in the northern hemes next week. It’s already getting in place in Ashland. The sky is blue, blue, blue, and the sun is getting hot, hot, hot. My house saw 96 yesterday while most of Ashland felt mid 90s temperatures.
Right now, it’s 77 F with the upper 90s on the table. Officially, the weather services differ from my local reading; they say, it’s 83 and feels like 91.
Going through this heat wave with my wife is fascinating in a terrible way. When it hit 96 outside yesterday, inside was 83. Warmish to me, causing sweat to dribble down the small of my back and accumulate in my pits.
I asked my wife what she thought of the heat in the house. She said, “It’s cool to me.”
She also often needs lights on. Complains, “It’s so dark in here.”
Dismaying. The other day, I came home. It was 86 degrees outside. The room was 78. She had a space heater on.
My sister, Gina, said she thinks Mom is on her ‘last legs’. As an aside, that’s an interesting expression for humans, comparing us to repaired furniture.
Gina’s assessment came in the wake of continued complaints from Mom about headaches, UTIs, yeast infections, and diarrhea. Tests come back and show, ‘nothing is wrong’. But Mom had another fall and hit her head again yesterday.
I have felt that Mom was on her last legs for the last month. She’s continued through a spiral of pain and difficulty communicating, remembering, and moving. She still eats, though. How long her ‘last legs’ will last is always difficult to predict.
Gina sent photos of Mom’s empty rooms today. Mom’s keyboard was given away to a young woman. Gina shared stories of how Mom would play the keyboard and sing while Frank strummed along on the guitar.
I laughed at this World Cup headline:
There’s been a few headlines and stories like that abounded, complaining about the costs of food and beverages at World Cup venues. Americans have been enduring this for years at professional sporting events. We’re not overly outraged, just savagely bitter. What makes these prices taste worse is that they’re often inflated by ‘fees’ to pay for the site.
That all helps fuel the K-shaped economy. Prices are hypermanaged to attract consumers. Then we’re gouged on ‘monetized’ aspects. For example, I can buy a ‘cheap’ airline ticket for a few hundred dollars. It won’t include food. The seat will be the worse on the plane. Doesn’t include baggage except a small carryon. And the actual price I pay will be much higher, as fees and administrative charges are added to pay for airport construction, security, and higher fuel and insurance costs.
I don’t expect it to get any better in Trump’s economy. Window dressing drives Trump’s values. He’s interested in what he thinks ‘looks good.’ So ‘low’ ticket prices are nice optics, even if they don’t reflect reality.
Americans have learned, though. We — those marginalized by the costs of living — understand how this works now. Consumer sentiment is understandably low. As this headline nicely puts it:
How is Trump’s war with Iran going? I don’t know; you tell me. The war is now at 106 days as Trump and Iran continue to negotiate.
The Epstein ballroom remains under construction. I believe that Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! is hosting an event involving UFC fighting on the White House lawn. BTW, in true Trump Double Standards fashion, Bud Light is sponsoring the UFC White House event. Bud Light was boycotted by MAGA just a few years ago for partnering with a transgender influencer.
Instead of a Trump Quote of the Day, I offer you this:
Here’s a little more about Trump’s declining popularity from the Political Tribune article about the Civiqs poll:
The states that remain in Trump’s column are still red on the map, although the intensity of that red has faded noticeably since inauguration day. Wyoming, still his strongest state, now sits at +25 after starting at +47. North Dakota follows at +15, South Dakota at +14, and West Virginia at +13. The more telling detail is not where they sit now, but where they began, with several of these states having effectively lost around half their initial support while staying on the positive side of the ledger.
Kentucky stands out as the only state to cross fully into negative territory, moving from +23 at the start of the term to -4 today, a 27-point swing that leads the national decline. Montana follows closely behind, dropping from +25 to +1, while Idaho slides from +34 to +11.
That’s a present to We the People on Trump’s birthday!
Today’s song is “More than A Feeling” by Boston. While the song is about love and loss, it’s in my morning mental music stream because economists keep talking about a recession vibe. They insist that the numbers look ‘okay’ if not great for the economy and we not heading for a recession. But We the People see the price and then the real cost. We know that’s a screwed-up economy.
My hope for you is that you have an enjoyable, happy day, wherever you are.
Cheers
Ashland, southern Oregon — Friday, June 12, 2026.
Sunshine. Blue sky. Cool now — 68 degrees — but climbing into the upper 80s again today.
Reports from the Eastern Front were about Mom suffering. A storm knocked out power. Afterward, the temperature climbed into the upper 80s and the humidity was high. Mom was in pain with headaches and other problems. Nothing we could do…
When Mom and I text, she often repeats the same questions and statements, frequently almost word for word.
My sister, Gina, sent texts relating all that remains to be done on Mom’s house, and the progress of things. She’s doing the work of five of us. But she’s supposed to be going on vacation two weeks from now, plans established last year. The house closing is scheduled for July 23, which suddenly seems very close.
Despite Trump’s talk of peace deals and the war being over, Trump’s war with Iran grinds on. Trump said something like we could get a deal as early as this weekend, but he’ll say anything.
A report came out in the “The Independent” that Trump’s support among Independent voters is sinking. The losses are among young Independent voters, along with Hispanic voters. Trump’s support with older, white Indpendent voters is unchanging.
A lot of the news is about Elon Musk becoming richer, thanks to the SpaceX IPO. Paul Krugman did a fine job of relating how little Musk actually accomplishes to become as wealthy as he is. Like Trump, Musk made a lot of promises. Much of what he promised was supposed to be done by 2025, but it isn’t. Krugman reminds us of what a disaster X has been since Musk bought Twitter, and how Wall Street bankers are still sucking on those losses.
In other Trump news, Trump used Ariana Grande’s song, “Bye”, without authorization. Grande immediately responded, “Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. F*** ICE.
Reading of that, My Neurons responded by instantly playing “Bye” in the morning mental music stream. I thought I’d share it with you. *smile*
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
I hope your day proceeds safely, securely, happily.
Cheers
