Saturday’s Theme Music — Honesty
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.
And through his smirking ‘leadership’, so does his administration, and his spokespeople. I, along with most Americans, do not trust him or his administration to tell the truth. Thanks to Trump’s time on the world stage, it’s a global opinion that Trump is dishonest. Worse, Trump is dragging other nations’ opinion of the United States down with him.
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.
No wonder Americans don’t trust ICE, a trend that is growing.
Today’s song is “Honesty” by Billy Joel.
I hope you have a safe and healthy Saturday and have good things to look back at when you call it a day.
Cheers
Missing Connections
Facts and reality continue their freefall in Trumpland.
Much of the US is caught in extreme heat as a heat dome covers the nation.
Air quality sucks in many states due to wildfires smoke.
Measles outbreaks continue to rise in the US. South Carolina, Texas, and Utah have the most outbreaks and the highest caseloads.
The rural hospital crises roars along, with more hospitals slated to close in rural areas.
Energy prices are increasing, along with food prices. Affordability is cratering. Grocery prices are 33% higher than in 2019.
Water shortages are rising because of widespread drought in the continental US, with 48% of the lower 48 states enduring some levels of drought. Besides affecting people’s abilities to hydrate, reduced water levels threaten livestock, agriculture, and hydroelectric power. As those areas are affected, expect food and grocery prices to increase more.
Personal bankruptcies are still increasing, continuing a trend which started several years ago.
The US debt is at a record high.
It’s flooding in Texas. Bridges have collapsed. Roads are impassible.
A cyclospora outbreak has hit 34 states.
Over in the Department of Defense, another endless war is going on, this time with Iran. The Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, worries about testosterone levels in the military members. Denies promotions to women and people of color.
Trump uses a Disney cartoon character to text about how good he’s doing. Goes on television to promote hysteria about election fraud and election interference, offering no evidence for his claims, and ignoring the mountains of proof about how safe US elections are.
After paving over the historic Rose Garden, Trump is paving more of the White House grounds, ignoring again that it’s not his place, but belongs to We the People.
Treasury announced a gold coin with Trump on it will be coming out.
Good. We need a gold commemorative reminder of how horrible life is becoming under Trump.
Trump and his administration do little to address the real problems facing real people. All he does is go on about how wonderful he is, whining how people cheat and persecute him.
They’re still trying to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and still building the Epstein ballroom.
On to the next distraction.
Thursday’s Theme Music – Brianstorming
Ashland, southern Oregon — July 16, 2026.
Cooler today as we move toward summer’s zenith in the valley, just mid to upper 80s F.
Today is my wife’s birthday, so happy birthday to her!
News came through late yesterday that the closing on Mom’s house has been moved out a week. Details are vague but seemed related to the buyer’s loan. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, it all goes through.
The rest of the world is pushing back against Trump and the US under him:
Europe and the Gulf just drew a legal red line on Hormuz — no permits, no tolls, no exceptions, for Iran or America
Trump will keep stewing about this. It’ll reinforce Trump’s ‘we’ll do it alone’ mantra, no matter how much it costs the US.
I laughed over this headline today:
White House teleprompter operator accused of making $100k off Trump speech bets
This is a classic Trump scam. Trump wasn’t the one doing it, though, so the teleprompter operator has been fired. If it was Trump, MAGAts would be whispering, “What a genius.” It’s classic Trump Double Standards (TDS).
Making another attempt at using Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! to distract and terrify Americans, Trump is making a prime-time address. I’ll be sure to avoid seeing it. Can’t stand his face, voice, smirk, ignorance, or lies. This one promises to have some of all of that.
Meanwhile, Trump is trying the old Red Scare stratagem. Hey, it worked for McCarthy in the fifties… That’s where many MAGAts still mentally reside.
What will Trump try next? “The red coats are coming! The red coats are coming!” Oh, I know — the old pre-war Domino Theory. Instead of countries, Trump will name blue states as falling under communism and scream, “They’re taking over everywhere!”
Or maybe he’ll just press harder on “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” Worked on weak minds when Trump invoked immigrants and ‘woke’.
I am more angry than afraid, contemptuous, even. MAGAts and even mainstream Republicans might quake from the Red Scare and other fear tactics, but the rest of us have learned.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
The poorly educated put Trump into office, and they keep helping him up when he topples over.
Today’s morning mental music stream offering is “Brianstorm”. I watch a lot of Brit television — along with Scandinavian, Australian, Irish, Welsh, and German — and encountered “Brianstorm” by Arctic Monkeys on one of those a few years ago.
I laugh whenever I think of the title. So Trumpian: I can see him on a stage, talking about having a brianstorm…
But the lyrics are also delicously mocking:
(Brian) Calm, collected and commanding
(Top marks for not trying) You leave the other story standing
With your renditions and jokes, bet there’s hundreds of blokes
That have wept ’cause you’ve stolen their
Thunder
Are you putting us under?
‘Cause we can’t take our eyes off the t-shirt and ties combination
Well, see you later, innovator
See what I mean? Or is it just me? *smile*
Hope yours is a grand day, no matter your season or age. May peace grace you with joy and happiness.
Cheers
Medical Update
Feeling fine, looking good.
Went through my annual physical on Tuesday, and all seems well. Blood work will be done next week to reveal what’s going on under the skin.
I went through the TURBT procedure for bladder cancer in late June. Next steps are the BCG wash. My urologist first said it would start in July, maybe August.
I mentioned this to my PCP on Tuesday. She was surprised. “Oh, they’re doing them? There was a nationwide shortage.”
Oh.
Forward to today. The BCG wash won’t start until the end of October.
The reason: a nationwide shortage of BCG. The United States has one source, a Merck facility. They’re trying to increase production but that won’t be successful — if it happens — until the end of 2026.
This is only a US issue:
The BCG shortage in the United States has been primarily due to a reliance on a single manufacturer, Merck, which produces the TICE strain of BCG. This dependency became critical after Sanofi Pasteur ceased production of the Connaught strain in 2012, leaving Merck as the sole supplier for the U.S. and many other countries . In contrast, other countries have access to multiple BCG strains produced by various manufacturers . In the U.S., the stringent FDA approval process has limited the availability of foreign-produced BCG strains, contributing to the prolonged shortage.
I’m simultaneously happy that the BCG wash is available and I have the means to have the procedure and frustrated by this continuing trend in the US. We become dependent on one source, and live and die by it.
It’s not just BCG; an article I read the other day recounted the US shortage of 155mm howitzer shells:
Manufacturing woes hamper US 155-mm ammo production
Businesses love to consolidate, buying up competitors, merging to ‘improve production’. Rarely works. Instead, we find ourselves more and more with just one location, putting all our trust and faith in them.
We often won’t modernize infrastructure until it reaches the brink of failure.
And in the US, we tend to wait to earnestly fix things until a crisis is clear. Witness what’s going on with Lake Meade and the growing water shortage. Even there, instead of actively addressing the problem, the Trump administration is paying to reduce consumption.
Something to think about as news and entertainment companies continue to merge.
The State of Trump
These declarations sum up the state of the union and Trump right now:
Trump praises “cash cow” data centers as his neighbors reject major project
While US towns, citizens, and states are more and more frequently challenging the need for AI centers, Trump is gung-ho to get them built. Many variables are being rolled out against building them:
- Are they actually needed and will they be profitable?
- Impact on the dwindling water supply
- The heat data and AI centers are shown to displace
- Energy use and costs
Many Trump supporters think Trump is a ‘smart businessman’. The rest of us count Trump’s many bankruptcies, the continual grifting, and his mismanagement of war with Iran, the economy, trade deals, tariffs, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and respond, not so fast.
Harry Enten explains why Trump’s signature issue just turned into a polling nightmare
Donald Trump is currently plummeting in the polls on his signature issue of immigration, noted CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten on Tuesday.
It was “one of the pillars of Donald Trump’s first campaign back in 2016, winning that Republican primary,” noted Enten, who also pointed to Trump’s anti-immigration agenda enjoying 53% backing when he won his second term in 2024.
But now there’s been “a massive change in the court of public opinion,” he said.
“Now, 58% of Americans say no, they do not, in fact, trust Trump on immigration. Just 41% say yes. So what we’re seeing with ICE is finding its way to the Trump administration at large, to Trump at large.”
ICE keeps killing people, using under claims for public safety or ‘fear for their own lives’. But the video evidence and witnesses’ recounting completely contradicts those narratives. Meanwhile, more FAFO stories show up about Trump’s ICE forces grabbing people trying to complete their citizenship requirements and wholly, totally legally here.
More of We the People are saying, “Enough.”
Americans Know Trump Is Lying
No amount of media sanewashing can convince Americans that Donald Trump is rationally prosecuting the Iran war or accurately relating the terms of a (sort of) deal. No matter how many times Trump repeats his outlandish lies on matters big or small — e.g., vandals at the reflecting pool! She begged me for a photo! — or tosses out bacchanalian distractions, or seeks refuge in hapless propaganda (none creepier than Vice President JD Vance’s pro-Nixon spin), he cannot arrest a growing national consensus: whatever Trump is doing is a failure and whatever he says is a bald-faced lie.
Trump’s inability to snow over the public with his blizzard of deceit bodes well for Democrats’ chances to trounce Republicans in the midterms. Candid after his primary defeat, Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn let on: “The jury’s still out whether this MAGA populist movement can survive the midterms.” But widespread agreement that Trump is an inveterate liar offers the opportunity for something beyond a midterm victory, which would be nothing less than a reality reset.
In the late stages of any authoritarian crack, the degenerating despot’s spin, lies, and excuses eventually reach a point of diminishing returns. Each additional fabrication only reinforces exasperation with his galling mendacity. That, in turn, may whet the public’s appetite for some unvarnished truth-telling and public accountability.
Jen Rubin wrote this, and she is absolutely right.
Trump keeps rolling out new distractions. He’s doing everything he can to turn We the People’s attention away from his increasing lists of lies, failures, and broken promises.
His latest Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! effort is for money to fight communism in the United States. But all of it is secret. Trump runs an opaque administration. Whenever documentation and proof is demanded, he blusters and folds.
The ‘war on communism’ is his latest desperate attempt to stoke fear, sow divisions, and stay in power.
Johnson Says Pentagon Needs More Money for ‘Fighting Communism on Our Own Shores’
As he pushed for Congress to approve $350 billion in new spending requested by the Pentagon, House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested Tuesday that some of the funds were needed for “fighting communism on our own shores,” an ominous notion in light of President Donald Trump’s threats to deploy the US military against his domestic enemies.
In addition to the already record-breaking $1.1 trillion military spending bill that was approved last month by the House Appropriations Committee, the Pentagon has requested a separate $350 billion package to be passed through a separate GOP-led spending bill known as “Reconciliation 3.0,” which can pass without Democratic support.
Sure. They’re fighting ‘communism’. Some of We the People will hear the word and shrivel up in fear. But most of us know this dance and will not be fooled again. As Jen Rubin wrote, we know Trump is lying. So is Johnson.
Next, we have this piece by Paul Krugman.
The Humbling of the Once Almighty Dollar
Donald Trump’s stunning failure in Iran has weakened America on many fronts. The world now perceives us as neither a reliable ally nor an invincible enemy, with an extortionately expensive military that is losing its best and brightest to Pete Hegseth’s prejudice and incompetence. We are now four months into a war that was supposed to last a couple of weeks.There is no end in sight as strikes and counter-strikes continue despite Trump’s farcical proclamations of American victory and Iranian surrender. Sixteen months into his presidency, Trump has squandered all of America’s credibility with the rest of the world.
So let me add one more item to the tally of destruction: The supremacy of the dollar, the pre-eminent tool in America’s toolbox of global financial power, has been seriously damaged by the rise of alternative payment systems – a rise that was greatly hastened by the Iran war.
Paul Krugman summarizes how the United States and the USD are losing ground in international affairs. Instead of increasing respect for the United States, Trump has managed to reveal that, with him in charge, the US is now an unreliable ally and trade partner. Trump thumbs his nose at international law, sneers at history, and makes boasts and claims that he can’t back up.
Like We the People, the world is reaching the point that they’ve had enough.
Here is the capstone of the current trend:
Trump’s 37% approval problem just got harder to ignore
Trump’s approval rating is more than a single bad headline. At 37%, the president is sitting in territory that usually signals a broad coalition of dissatisfaction, not just predictable opposition from the other party.
Yes, it’s more than bad headlines, distractions, an unneeded war, and constant lies. Those are all symptoms.
The truth is that a person who should not be in charge of this nation won an election. Since his election, he’s done grave damage to our nation’s system of government and has grown as a threat to not just We the People, but to democracy itself.
Trump knows this. As much as he tries to spin matters, as much as his staff hides the truth, the cracks are showing.
Trump is failing. He and his policies need to be reined in before it’s too late.
Wednesday’s Theme Music — Blind
Ashland, southern Oregon — Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Gonna be 95 F here again. 79 right now. Will drop tomorrow to 85, they say. We’ll see.
Happy birthday to my younger sister. A mother of two, grandmother of two, she just retired from a long and very successful career in banking, and continues to have a happy marriage after 48 years.
To the news.
Heather Cox Richardson’s letter for yesterday — July 14, 2026 — relates how the United States slowly created and built its national parks and monuments. Presidents from both parties embraced the idea of saving natural lands for people to enjoy.
Armed with Project 2025 ideas and declaring a national energy emergency, Trump has rolled back protections. Even though people love the parks and the parks bring income into the nation’s coffers and create jobs, Trump is more interested in what it can do for the timber, mining, and energy industries. Under him, the parks will be smaller and trashier than they’ve been since the 1890s.
Shaking my head.
This article made me laugh this morning:
Fox News viewers savage Donald Trump for ‘redneck garbage dump’ White House decorations
The best comments for me:
“White House every day is looking more like a red neck garbage dump,” someone else blasted, with a fourth viewer weighing in, “Just because it’s gold doesn’t make it elegant. At some point, it starts looking less like a palace and more like a casino lobby.”
An article from TNR asked a question which many of us wonder:
Can We Lose the Same War Twice? With Trump, Anything’s Possible
Nice summation of the current mess in Trump’s war with Iran right here:
“The two New Jersey property managers Trump sent to negotiate his surrender produced a poorly written memorandum of understanding, or MOU, that captured the new power relations—Iran got nearly everything it demanded, including a $300 billion reconstruction fund, while the United States got vague promises of talks on all the issues Trump had started the war to resolve.”
Now Trump is back at it, launching attacks, still after the same objectives that he claimed to have achieved before, fighting the way he claimed to have won before.
Feels like just more Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! to me.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Classic Trump word weave. Little meaning, less truth, far less connection with reality.
I’m not an expert but based on experts’ opinions and history, I believe this policy will dramatically increase the costs of goods in the US, thereby increasing inflation, straining affordability and healthcare for many Americans.
Today, in honor of MAGA and Republicans, Les Neurons served up a song called “Love is Blindness”. U2 came out with it first. It was too mellow and chill for me. I prefer Jack White’s harder, more challenging edge.
Sample Lyrics:
A little death
Without mourning
No call
And no warning
Baby, a dangerous idea
That almost makes sense
Love is drowning
In a deep well
All the secrets
And no one to tell
Take the money
Honey
Blindness
h/t to Bing.
May this day come with peace, grace, and joy for you, and gently carry you forward to the best times possible.
Cheers
Tuesday’s Theme Music — Jail
Ashland, southern Oregon — Tuesday, July 14, 2026.
Gonna be hot today, probably 96. Reached 96 yesterday, too. Today’s sky offers blue, blue, blue, and blue wherever you look. It’s a comfortable 74 degrees F right now with a mild breeze gracing us.
It’s the birthday for one of my younger cousins today, but she passed away from cancer several years ago. I remember her with fondness for who she was, sadness for her reduced life and the disease she endured.
Trump announced another blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in conjunction with his war on Iran. Then Trump said that he was going to charge ships a 20% fee to go through, something well-established as illegal.
Then Trump TACOed and rescinded that announcement.
I suspect it was just another Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! move. Keep us distracted from his many failures and setbacks, such as that other distraction, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool fiasco, and that mess called the Epstein Ballroom, sartorially named after Trump’s good friend.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Judge Kathleen Williams blocked Trump’s sweeping IRS settlement. If you remember, Trump sued the IRS, demanding $10,000,000,000 in damages. The DOJ announced a settlement between the IRS and Treasury in which a victim fund of $1.47B was established to be paid out. It also said the IRS agreed never to audit Trump and his family and their businesses or tax returns.
Judge Williams found some problems with the settlement.
I read her 56-page ruling yesterday, skipping many of the footnotes and some of the legal precedents. Fun read, though.
The Federal judge said this is a case of Trump against Trump, with Trump controlling both sides. She cited Trump’s early Executive Orders when he took office for his second term, noting that he made it clear that he was in charge of the executive branch and all of its offices, personnel, and decisions. As the case pitted the Treasury against the IRS and both of them are part of the Executive Branch, and Trump controls both, it’s like arguing with yourself.
Judge Williams also went on to note the lack of evidence, documentation, and statements made by the defendants. All this pointed to a lack of adversity, so the two sides were not arguing about anything. There were also a few comments made about the lawyers, and things the lawyers said in testimony to Congress and public statements.
Along with all that, she found the fund they established as a ‘settlement’ made no sense, because it awarded money to be given to parties unrelated to the lawsuit, and it established no means for controlling it.
I like the way that Judge Williams put it after laying out her reasoning:
“The Parties used the existence of federal litigation as a means of conferring
legitimacy upon a course of action that they were unwilling to subject to judicial review.
The context of the “settlement,” the relationships of the people involved in negotiating and
approving it, the ethical implications of their conduct, and the Parties’ swift efforts to
dismiss this case after the Court raised fundamental jurisdictional questions all support
this conclusion.”
Other news found the Trump Administration unfreezing money meant for blue states. Trump had the $10B HHS funds for the five states frozen, claiming that they were perpetuating fraud. Standard for Trump, he offered little evidence for his claim and made sweeping allegations.
The affected states sued. A federal judge blocked the freeze and mandated that Trump administration needed to explain why they’d frozen the money and justify their action. Rather than share their thinking, the money was unfrozen.
Trump also finally paid the $5M plus interest Trump owed E. Jean Carroll. A court ruled three years ago that Trump owed her the money for sexually assaulting her in 1996 and defaming her.
After all that, I was thinking about Trump and jail. The Neurons noticed and slotted a Thin Lizzy song into the morning mental music stream, “Jailbreak”. *smile*
I hope this day gives you many reasons to smile and be happy.
Cheers
Worst Places to Live in the US — 2026
CNBC released a ranking of the ten worst states to live in within the United States.
Only Republican-led states — ‘red states’ — are on the list.
“CNBC’s bottom 10 states for quality of life, from lowest-scoring upward, were:”
- Tennessee (64 out of 290)
- Texas (78)
- Indiana (82)
- Louisiana (89)
- Georgia (89)
- Utah (95)
- Missouri (98)
- Alabama (99)
- Oklahoma (103)
- Arkansas (103)
Oh, my.
I’m not a fan of these lists. I don’t think that the best place or the worst is the same for all of us. Too many variables are embedded in our experiences for such a monolithic list to be presented. This list addresses a specific situation; another list previously issued by CNBC had several of these states listed as one of the best places for business.
I still read these articles, though. I read this one somewhat gleefully because ‘red states’ in the Trump era are often espousing values that are opposite of mine.
Then, even more fun, I read the reactions.
‘Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, called the ranking “nonsense” in a post on X.
‘“If Tennessee was really the worst state to live in people wouldn’t be moving there in large numbers, which they are,” DeSantis wrote.’
I researched and confirmed, Gen X and Millennials are moving to Tennessee in great numbers in 2026. The irony of it is that they’re going to Tennessee to work in the healthcare industry, but Tennessee is ranked very low for their healthcare system.
This is a fragile, short-term model for growth. Tennessee has an aging population. They need a lot of care; hence the growth in that industry.
But, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed into bill by Donald Trump let ACA premium subsidies expire. That triggered an average premium increase of 32.6% for Tennessee Marketplace enrollees. That high increase is expected to drive up the number of uninsured people, placing a huge strain on Tennessee’s burgeoning healthcare industry.
Ironically, too, because Tennessee faces a shortage of healthcare workers, wages for them are being forced upward, causing more strain on the system. Additionally, Tennessee is one of the states being hardest hit by the ongoing rural hospital crises.
It’s a classic FAFO situation. As with many of these developing matters, we’ll need to wait a year or two to see what happens next in Tennessee.
Monday’s Theme Music — Sweet Lies
Ashland, southern Oregon — Monday, July 13, 2026.
We’re climbing through the 70s, on our way to 90 degrees F. Sunny. Blue sky. No clouds. Supposed to be different tomorrow, with a 55% chance of rain. We will see.
We took a moment at our house to talk about Sam Niell passing. We both enjoyed his work. I was just watching him in the television “Peaky Blinders” last night.
My wife said today, “Who could have guessed that the cease fire with Iran would unravel?”
Yes, a Trump deal unraveling? Perish the thought.
I’ve been following numerous stories in the press that analyze what Trump says and how much of it is a lie. It’s become like a hobby for me. It takes enormous time because Trump lies frequently.
Some of his recent lies are in these stories:
Analysts fact-check the president‘s latest claims about the US economy
Trump Justifies Money Made as President With Inaccurate Claims
Trump claims 59% approval, but recent polls show support far lower
And then there was this headline out of Fortune Magazine:
U.S. Treasury has borrowed $155 billion every month of this fiscal year—and is now paying $24 billion a week in interest on its debts
Tax cuts and spending increases have pushed current spending. The nation is expected to borrow $2T to finance the debt in 2026.
Trump still believes in magic, though, claiming he will balance the budget without doing a thing. Your Trump Quote of the Day:
I file this Trump declaration with Trump’s many other declarations, lies, and broken promises, including the one about no new wars, releasing the Epstein files, and that other one about lowering inflation.
Today’s morning mental music stream is “Sweet Lies” by Fleetwood Mac. The Neurons inform that they are playing this song for me because Trump tells sweet little lies. MAGAts and Republicans faithfully nod, agreeing with his lies. Does that make them liars by proxy?
Hope your day comes free of lies and full of joy, peace, and security.
Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 