Tag: wildfires

Tuesday’s Theme Music – Money

Ashland, southern Oregon. Tuesday, August 11, 2026.

We continue slowly cooling in our area. 78 F, 92 F is the expected high. But we never saw the forecast high yesterday, coming up a few degrees short. I was alright with that. Smoke has been absent from the sky, too, knock on wood, despite so many fires plaguing Oregon and the United States in general — indeed, the world. The world’s oceans had their highest recorded temperature in July.

My sisters and I entered an extended text session a few days ago. Continued into today. All about the family. Turns out we aren’t “Parks” except in name. Mom’s maiden name is Parks. Her father was Parks. But his father was Slacks. So we’re Slacks. After Alfred Parks died, Mom’s grandmother married Slack and had our great-grandfather. She then divorced Slack and resumed life as Parks, re-naming her two children from Slack as Parks. Family legend from another part of the family claim that Alfred Slack’s side was shady, which might explain things.

It’s probably just me, but Trump’s Patriot Games seem to be going on with little notice. I think he imagined something grand but as usual with Trump efforts, the execution was shoddy. Besides having to move it from D.C. to Ohio, because of competing events — which Trump ordered — participants weren’t selected for their athletic prowess from great competitions. Most of them turned out to be white, which isn’t a surprise to me. Some represented states they weren’t from — which, yes, also aligns with classic Trump sloppiness.

Athletes attending Patriot Games reveal how it devolved into MAGA madness

The games themselves are a very strange choice, it seems like:

Qualifying rounds, along with kickball and dodgeball, took place on Sunday. On Monday, male and female competitors participated in a “varsity circuit” that strung together many sports: athletes had to throw footballs at targets, catch tennis balls out of the air, kick a soccer ball at a target, spike volleyballs over a net, hit wiffle balls with a bat, and sprint around a baseball diamond. Also on Monday, athletes competed in “operation endurance,” in which they had to maneuver through an obstacle course that involved army crawling, climbing nets, lifting heavy tires, monkey bars, and balance beams.

Let’s just call it what it is, more distraction from what a crappy job Trump is doing, more Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIREEL!, just like the Epstein ballroom, the war on Iran, the threats about Greenland, the attack on Venezuela, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the pathetic arch, calling Democrats ‘dumocrats, renaming buildings and airports after him, TrumpRx, Freedom Fuel, Trump’s denunciation of President Biden’s economy — which is way better than the Trump economy, America’s state fair, the blustering about commies stealing the election — hell, all the election fraud crap Trump spouts all the damn time — and other things, like Haitians eating pets. Lies, corruption, and distractions: that’s Trump.

While we have real problems in the US and around the world, Trump attacks imaginary problems, trying to magnifiy their impact, trying to scare people. Meanwhile, our real problems worsen.

I checked this morning and the measles outbreaks are still breaking out. We’re already into new modern records. Texas and South Carolina are the nation’s hot spots, with significant outbreaks taking place in Texas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

I have “For the Love Of Money” by the O’Jays playing in the morning mental music stream. Song came out in 1973 and was a top 10 hit for in the US. I’m thinking about it today because of how it’s screwing up existence. Capitalism, right? And dark money, which has assumed such a dominant role in modern US politics. Then there are the wealthy oligarchs and billionaires, hunting more for themselves to the detriment of everyone and everything else.

Then there’s the top of the greed pyramid, Donald Trump. Greed and money drives Trump — along with his fantasies about how wonderful and brilliant he thinks he is, ignoring all evidence and facts that consistently confirm, is actually pretty damn inept. He’s an excellent liar and con, and that’s about it.

Sample Lyrics

(For the love of money) people will steal from their mother
(For the love of money) people will rob their own brother
(For the love of money) people can’t even walk the streets
Because they never know who in the world they’re gonna beat
For that mean, oh mean, mean green

Almighty dollar, that money

(For the love of money) people will lie, Lord, they will cheat
(For the love of money) people don’t care who they hurt or beat
(For the love of money) a woman will sell her precious body
For a small piece of paper, it carries a lot of weight
For that mean, mean, mean, mean, mean green
Almighty dollar, talkin’ about, talkin’ about

I know that money is the root of all evil
Do funny things to some people
Give me a nickel, brother, can you spare a dime?
Money can drive some people out of their mind
(For the love of money) no good, no good, no good
(For the love of money) don’t sell your soul for the money, no, no
(For the love of money) lay down, lay down, women will

Money is the root of all evil
Do funny things to some people
Give me a nickel, brother, can you spare a dime?
Money can drive some people out of their minds

Hope your day brings you safety, peace, and security, along with good things to eat and drink. May you live long and prosper, as others used to say.

Cheers

0

Saturday’s Theme Music — Games

Ashland, southern Oregon. Saturday, August 8, 2026.

Cooler today. Although now 74 F, it will get only to 96 today. Officially, I think we hit 99 yesterday. My house saw 102 again.

There’s another fire burning. This one is to our northeast. Already at 19,000 acres with no containment, we’ve added it to our fire watch.

Trump urged his Attorney General to open prosecutions of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool again. Given the plethora of bad news for Trump this week, I’m not surprised.

That’s part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! When things get bad, Trump tries to change the topic. Bad economic news came out. Trump would normally bluster about bombing Iran again. Can’t: low munitions, so they’re supposed to be ‘negotiating’.

Fallback number two would be to talk about how great everything is. But with prices still up and affordability still in crisis mode, he’s probably been advised to not talk about that.

Trump’s other topics would be calling climate change a hoax but with so many fires burning in the United States, he’s been silent about them — after stupidly threatening to impose tariffs on Canada because their wildfire smoke was bothering the US. While the US has ‘only’ burned over 6 million acres compared to 9 million in Canada, the United States’s fires outnumber Canadian fires 45,000 to 3,900.

Trump sure as hell can’t talk about Epstein…especially after a Federal court ruled that tearing down part of the White House to build a new ballroom was outside of Trump’s authority. That sent Trump off on an angry frenzy; since Trump lives there, he thinks he can do what he wants to it and fails completely to understand that the White House belongs to We the People. He’s just an occupant, and many of us are ready to kick him out.

With celebration of the nation’s 250 Anniversary going poorly so far, Trump is staying pretty mum about the Patriot Games which are starting this week. They had to move them from D.C. to Ohio. This is a classic Trump thing: the Freedom 250 Indycar race is coming up in a few weeks. Guess what? You can’t set up for an Indycar race at the same time that you’re running Patriot Games. The operations clashed, setting up a logistics nightmare.

So the Hunger Games — sorry, Patriot Games — were quietly moved.

I’m not overly impressed with those games, either:

The DC Indycar race — arrives later this month. The event has free admission, but many are angry about it. 1) Trump ignored getting approval from anyone for the event — surprise! 2) Although ‘free’, people attending aren’t permitted to bring in anything: chairs, foods, suntan lotion, drink, etc. 3) Locals are upset about how the race and its logistics are going to affect their lives during hot, humid August, especially when the race was forced on them without their approval.

So, back to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool for Trump. It’s a mess that he created, a blot on his recorded, etched into his legacy, along with the Iran war, Epstein files, poor economy, and his corruption and ineptitude. He created this mess, and he’s going to go down swinging, pretending it’s not his own fault.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Yes, he’s had some great polls, if you ignore over half the nation.

Trump is weak, ineffective, losing power and losing face. He’s struggling to save it, but too delusional to do anything meaningful. So he’ll continue with the same ol’ same ol’ fantasies, ranting, raving, threatening, and bullying.

With all these thoughts of games — Trump’s games, pretending that he’s doing great, the ‘Patriot’ games, etc — Les Neurons supplied the morning mental music stream with an Alan Parson Project fave, “Games People Play.”

May your day bring a winning hand your way today and every day.

Cheers

0

Friday’s Theme Music —

Ashland, southern Oregon — Friday, August 7, 2026.

Sunshine rules but smoke threatens. We’re still safe, knock on wood. Our hearts go out to the many, many, many others — animals, people, land — enduring fires and its impacts.

Hit 102.7 at our house yesterday. Project to hit the same today. It’s 80 F right now.

It’s my anniversary with my wife today. 51 years. Some were rocky but we’re still here, growing old together.

Meanwhile, Trump’s economy, now in its second year, continues flailing. The Jobs Report comes on the heels of the report that showed that the economy’s growth is anemic. What happened to all those manufacturing jobs Trump promised?

Paul Krugman again helped me understand what the July Jobs Report means.

News of the Weak (Labor Market)

“The surprise fall in employment — 23,000 jobs lost, when the consensus forecast was for around 80,000 gained — made headlines. As always, it’s important to realize that monthly jobs numbers are noisy, so you shouldn’t overreact to one report. However, this report also revised data for several earlier months down, so the broader picture of job growth in Trump’s “golden age” is significantly worse than it seemed.“

Krugman also shares this graph from Haver Analytics.

Krugman has often talked about a recession vibe. That comes about when everyone talks about how bad the economy ‘feels’ versus what the data shows. The intersection of gas prices what won’t come down, a terrible job market — as show in the Jobs Report and in jobseekers’ perceptions of what the job market is like — and slow growth is what gives us this vibe.

Trump will probably respond with claims of fake news, or attempt to blame Presidents Obama or Biden, or the Democrats. It’s always someone else’s fault when things go wrong, although he’s always hungry to try to claim glory and success.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

We need to keep repeating this: Trump doesn’t think about anybody except himself. He doesn’t care about anybody but himself. This economy, Trump’s growing wealth, and Trump’s war with Iran is what you get when you vote for Trump and the GOP that enables him.

“Beds Are Burning” are in my morning mental music stream again. This is a 1987 Midnight Oil song. The Australian group’s song is in there because there’s been so — much — fire — this year, around the world. Record disasters. With Trump’s reactive policies, this will get worse. A super El Nino is already forecast for this coming winter in the northern hemisphere. With fires burning so much of the woods and vegetation and a wet super El Nino in the works, the potential for devastating flooding is enormous.

The other reason that “Beds Are Burning” is today’s song is because of the Trump economy. It’s also burning; more money is being poured into the Defense budget and weapons. But Trump and Hegseth are burning through them. Meanwhile, Trump is trying to fund battleships and Arctic ships. It’s surreal as hell. The economy and world is burning, and he’s wasting money not on helping the people, but on building armies to attack others.

I hope you have a safe and healthy day, and it precedes a long string of such days for you.

Cheers

2

Wednesday’s Theme Music — Shadows

Ashland, southern Oregon. Wednesday — August 5, 2026.

We hit 101.5 at my house yesterday. That was outside. Inside, we stayed below 80. We’ve yet to run the A/C yet this year — knock wood — as the temperatures drop enough at night to cool the house and land down.

We’ll see if that holds today. Right now, it’s 83 F, on its way to 101 again.

The thing about yesterday’s weather is that it climbed slowly. At one mid-afternoon point, I thought, well, this isn’t bad. 91 then, I thought, maybe we won’t hit one hundred. Then I entered a store, came back out said to myself, holy shit, it’s hot as hell. What happened?

Today, though — hot early, hot fast.

Although there are more fires burning across the United States, we’re still fire-free — knock wood. The smoke isn’t bad, either. We’re fortunate in our neck of the woods; Oregon has topped 2,000,000 acres burned this year. Washington has several large fires going. Portland (OR) now has the worst air in the world, due to the wildfires.

Mom and my sister, Gina, continue their quiet war. Mom turned to her granddaughter, Gina’s daughter — Amy — as the go-between. Amy is rejecting the role. Although Mom helped raise Amy, Amy doesn’t deal well with the tension of being the go-between. Plus, Amy is in college, working on a Masters, and she works. So I help fill the gap.

As 2026 wears on, we’re seeing the shadows of Trump’s thinking, lying, fantasizing, playing out in real time now. It’s all catching up.

US has used ‘virtually all’ of its long-range precision missiles during Iran war, sources say

  • Some of these are new weapon systems
  • There’s a bottleneck on refilling them
  • They’re expensive
  • Experts estimate that it will take 1 to 4 years to replenish the supplies
  • While Trump and his staff deny it, this is likely why Trump backed off on the Iran bombing campaigns

And what has the war achieved? Death and high prices. A more unstable Middle-East. And now, a more vulnerable US.

‘Delusional’: Donald Trump flunks reality with his ‘A+’ grade claim

Trump’s golden age reality check

Trump and his administration predicted 6% growth; it’s 1.5%

Trump’s solution to abuse in ICE facilities is pricey—and evil

Jeanine Pirro faces the choice many Trump officials confront at one point or another

Which reality do you choose?

“When Trump hits a brick wall now, as president, he just fashions an alternative reality. He can talk up tough financial data or a foreign policy hiccup as though he’s bigging up a tatty property in a real estate prospectus.“

Your Trump Quote(s) of the Day:

This is the same tired claim Trump made in January of this year:

Trump has made this claim dozens of times already. But reality does not back him up. As with many matters, Trump has a basic misunderstanding of how things work. If inflation cools, prices don’t ‘come down’; inflation is a measure of how much they’ll increase.

Trump’s claims about affordability and prices coming down, and being in a ‘golden age’ is just like his Iran War rhetoric. Trump has claimed victory again (April), again (June), and again (July). Yet the war goes on, in August. He keeps trying to distract us from the truth. Not happening, because we’re paying through the nose, and we’re feeling it.

Today’s music is “Shadowplay” by Joy Division. Seems right for today. I didn’t know the song when it came out, and discovered it when The Killers covered it for a movie. I like the original’s sonic approach to the gittar playin’. Good morning mental music stream occupant for these times as Trump’s shadow grows.

Sample Lyrics:

In the shadowplay, acting out your own death
Knowing no more
As the assassins all grouped in four lines
Dancing on the floor
And with cold steel, odour on their bodies
Made a move to connect
But I could only stare in disbelief
As the crowds all left

h/t to Genius.com

2

Sunday’s Theme Music — Get You

Ashland, southern Oregon. Sunday, August 2, 2026.

Our weather is cool, 62 F right now. It’ll rise to the mid 80s, basically as it did yesterday. The air is clear with an AQI that says ‘it’s good’. Clouds muddle around the sky as if they’re waiting for a door to open somewhere.

I’m suspicious of it all.

Things are going well — here. Relatively. Everything is relative. We live on spectrums of changing needs, abilities, awareness, knowledge. It all seems more acute for me as I grow older.

I don’t feel particularly old now but then I look in the mirror. Like, who stole my hair? Will they be returning it?

My face just looks different. Not like my parents or grandparents. Now I’m wondering if someone stole into the house and replaced my face.

Then, why would they have taken my average white, upper middle age (ahem) face?

Answer is, of course: they’re going to use my face to commit a crime somewhere.

So now I wait to see what crime my face shows up as part of.

Watching Mom, friends, and Trump, I don’t look forward to getting much older. Mom, 91, is cranky on most days. Filled with pain, she tells me. I see a video of her in a chair, trying to exercise. She’s listing to her right as she jerks her right arm up. She doesn’t look happy or healthy, but she’s trying.

Trump worries me even more. His language, never a strong suit, has become much worse. There are reports of him crapping his pants or delivering some nasty farts. Where there’s this much smoke, I got to wonder about the truth behind it. If he’s crapping himself or emitting enough noxious foulness that others are gagging and turning away, those aren’t signs of good heatlh.

In photos, Trump’s face has that old person, mean, angry look going. He’s glaring at the world like he’s trying to hear what they’re saying and can’t.

Worse, though, are those late night texts — from Mom and Trump.

Mom reached out at 2 AM to ask me if we’re safe from the fires. She pinged me again a few minutes later to ask, “Why don’t you answer?”

I don’t see these texts until I get up a few hours later. Then reply, sorry, missed your texts, was asleep, we’re fine. And I thank her for her concerns.

My sister later reports that Mom texted her in the middle of the night, asking what did Gina do with all the clothes Mom left behind in her house.

I worry, why is Mom up in the middle of the night texting?

Trump worries me in the same way. He spends a lot of nocturnal hours texting. Then he’s shown ready to fall asleep in his chair at meetings during the day.

Trump’s texts are worse than Mom’s texts. Mom shows a belated handle on what’s going on and often shows concern for others.

Trump texted an AI generated vision of himself as Elvis Presley. What an absolutely strange thing to do, I think as I see this. Who in their right mind pretends to be someone else like that?

Let’s pause to think about it: Trump is posting an image of himself as a popular pop culture star. One who died in 1977, almost fifty years ago. What is going on in that troubled head that he entertains these thoughts?

I then think of Trump’s MAGAts. They say that he speaks for them.

Are they out there generating AI images of themselves as others? Are some of them projecting themselves as young Johnny Cash or dead young athletes and actors?

As an aside to that, I admit that I admire the new Iran War Participation Award someone created for Trump. It has the right mix of bitter humor and deadly insights.

I received other texts and messages from people worrying about us and the fires. As the fires grow in the Pacific Northwest and more are evacuated, the news shifts toward the top of the news cycles.

We’re fine, I reply to all, knock on wood. No, it’s been a remarkably ‘cooler’ summer, with us rarely challenging 100 F. Wildfire threats have been far away. The smoke has only been mild and hasn’t lasted too long — knock on wood. Hope to hell I’m not jinxing us by mentioning it.

No, our thing remains the drought. Winter supplies are down to the low 40s. We’re conserving. Vegetation is browning, which would be nice if these were pie crusts baking in the oven instead of grassy fields and mountain meadows.

Between nature’s growing extreme trends and aging, there’s a sense that something is going to get you. Trump, acting crazy, arming ICE and mobilizing them in cities, fostering more war, using violence as a mallet to try to fix things, only makes that feel worse. Especially as his main concerns are promoting himself as a young Elvis Presley, affixing his name to buildings, and destroying our heritage and cultural norms.

No surprise then, with The Neurons’ music choice for the morning mental music stream. “One Way or Another” is a 1979 Blondie song. Deborah Harry was being stalked but wrote the song with some humor injected into it.

Sample Lyrics:

One way or another, I’m gonna find ya
I’m gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya
One way or another, I’m gonna win ya
I’m gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya

One way or another, I’m gonna see ya
I’m gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya, meet ya
One day, maybe next week, I’m gonna meet ya
I’m gonna meet ya, I’ll meet ya

Catchy. Easy to sing along with, good hard beat with a fast tempo made it a popular and memorable song. Makes perfect sense for today, with the threats being raised by nature and Trump.

Hope your day is threatfree, and that you enjoy carefree moments of pleasure and happiness with people you’re fond of, in places which you enjoy.

Cheers

3

Saturday’s Theme Music — The End

Ashland, southern Oregon.

Saturday, August 1, 2026. Happy Lammas Day!

It’s 71 F in our valley at the moment. Light, high white clouds. We expect a high in the upper 80s.

A new heat dome is moving into the region. But the jet stream shifted a few years ago. Now we’re often protected from those heat domes. It can change again at any moment, so I’ll take it for now and celebrate the small win.

It’s a new month but much hasn’t changed.

Eight-five fires are burning in Oregon.

They still haven’t closed on Mom’s house. She is aware that it’s being sold, though, asking me for updates every day.

Trump is still lying. Still squirming, trying to distract us from his failures.

The Epstein files haven’t been released. Trump’s war with Iran is still going on. Affordability remains a crisis. Healthcare costs are going up.

Like many people, I’m waiting for other things. Like the old story: waiting for the other shoe to drop.

So, it’s a new month, but the same mode of waiting.

Without much surprise, The Neurons caught onto my thinking. My Neurons can be slow and flaky, easily distracted by games and cats, but like a car, they can get fired up and pointed in the right direction once in a while.

Today’s song in the morning mental music stream is “Waiting for the End”. This is a Linkin Park song. Came out in 2010. I caught it on SNL and went looking for it to hear it again.

Sample Lyrics:

Waiting for the end to come
Wishing I had strength to stand
This is not what I had planned
It’s out of my control

Yeah, yeah
What was left when that fire was gone?
I thought it felt right, but that right was wrong
All caught up in the eye of the storm
And trying to figure out what it’s like moving on
And I don’t even know what kind of things I’ve said
My mouth kept moving, and my mind went dead
So, I’m picking up the pieces now, where to begin?
The hardest part of ending is starting again

The song is about hope, paralysis, and frustration, IMO. Feels right for today. Here we are, waiting for the end, trying to figure out how we define the end.

I hope you have a strong day, whatever one it is, whatever your season, a day that comes with lasting peace and grace.

Cheers

0

Friday’s Theme Music — Seeing Truth

Ashland, southern Oregon — Friday, July 31, 2026.

July is dawdling to a close. Hotter today; but 74 degrees F now, a high of 96 F is expected. Then it will cool back down tomorrow.

Concerns for days like this is that the dry land, already very hot, cranks up the winds, and thunderstorms develop, lashing us with lightning. We’ve been fortunate so far this year.

Not so with much of Oregon. The state is on track for the worst season ever as 34 major fires burn. As an Oregon rancher affected notes, this ends up affecting everything. With the grasslands burned, they’ll need to buy expensive hay to feed their cattle.

With gas and diesel prices up, thanks to Trump’s Iran war and refineries threatened by high heat, expect grocery store prices to rise more. Beef, lettuce, and tomatoes are expected to surge by over 10% this year.

Trump doesn’t help the situation. Instead of providing funding and help to fight the fires, he worsens the situation by playing political games. Between that, DOGE cuts, and a poorly thought out reorganization, Trump has reduced the nation’s ability to effectively fight these fires.

Hackers are apparently going after our water infrastructure. Minnesota reported attacks earlier in the week. Since then, the FBI confirmed that seven US states have seen such attacks and warn of more.

Naturally — because that’s who he is — Trump denied that Iran could be involved and instead blamed Democrats. This goes against the FBI, security, and intelligence assessments.

But that’s Trump, exposing both his ignorance and his pettiness in one clumsy display.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Trump declared himself the ‘peace’ and ‘unity’ president when he took office in January of 2024.

“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier.”

Of course, Trump also claimed in that same speech, “Next, I will direct all members of my cabinet to marshal the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation, and rapidly bring down costs and prices. The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices, and that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.”

All of us then scoffed because we knew from history that he’s only about enriching himself.

Everything since then has validated that truth and that he will break every promise, from being a peacemaker to lowering prices. Our national oil reserves are now at the lowest level in 43 years. Maybe Trump will try to make them the lowest in 47 years; that’s the sort of egotist he is.

But MAGA believes, yes, Trump is a unifier. Yes, he’s bringing peace by being strong. Perhaps they’ll see the truth…someday. I’ve become doubtful. There is no FAFO for many of them.

As for Trump’s legacy, it will be one of lies, corruption and destruction, not unity and peace.

That takes me to today’s music: “Gimme Some Truth”. John Lennon released the song in 1971. I ended up with a Pearl Jam live version from a few years later in my morning mental music stream. I can’t explain it.

Lennon’s lyrics fit this Trump era:

I’m sick and tired of hearin’ things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

I’ve had enough of readin’ things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

Over fifty years later, we’re still hearing from uptight short-sided, narrow-minded hypocrites, led now by Trump.

Hope the day speaks to you in positive ways.

Cheers

1

Thursday’s Theme Music — Distractions

Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, July 30, 2026.

Clouds and sunshine is mixing it up in our valley. 75 F at this point, the high is expected to top off in the upper 80s today.

The air remains clear of wildfire smoke, as well, knock on wood. A little rain would be welcomed.

Trump continues to slog through a summer of bad news. More light came to be shed about Trump’s reasons for attacking on Iran, I think.

US economy slowed more than expected as the Iran war took hold

The United States economy slowed more than expected as an inflation surge took hold over the early months of the Iran war, a government report on Thursday showed.

The economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.5% over three months ending in June, marking a slight slowdown from 2.1% growth recorded in the previous quarter. The figure came in lower than economists’ expected.

Still, the latest data outperformed 0.5% annualized gross domestic product (GDP) recorded over final three months of 2025.

The period covered by the data release followed a historic global oil shock set off by the Middle East conflict.

Trump’s war with Iran makes more sense to me now. Trump attacked Iran because the economy was weak. He needed a distraction, cover for why inflation was not going down. Besides that, the Epstein files are still out there, waiting to be released. Also, polls were showing that Trump and his policies were becoming more and more unpopular, a trend that’s still going.

Trump’s approval rating plummets near George W. Bush levels – Daily Kos

Of course, Trump ignorantly thought the war with Iran would be a cakewalk. Instead, whoa, half a year has gone by.

Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! is another Epic Trump Failure.

On top of these things, Trump has been trying to drum up fears about election being stolen! Election fraud! Oh, no, commies are coming!

States are pushing back.

Florida ‘has not been hacked’: Trump election claim crumbles as states start to speak up

Facts, truth, history: these are anathema to Trump, who much prefers ignorance, lies, wealth, and idolization.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Trump loves tough talking. Especially when he’s sending others in to face danger, and it is others who are being killed.

Today’s theme music emerged from the headlines.

Noah Kahan rips White House, Trump for using hit song in video of prez touring GM plant

I wasn’t familiar with the song. Once I heard it, it struck me as a really weird song choice for visiting a factory. But that aligns with Trump and his Trumpions’ thinking. “American Cars” is the song title, and that’s all they needed.

I was pleased that Noah Kahan pushed back against Trump’s use of the song.

“Kahan wrote Tuesday, according to Variety, “Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration.””

His writing partner, Noah Levine, was more to the point: “You fat f–k, this song isn’t for you.”

Love you, Noah Levine!

Hope your day is wealthy with friendship, good health, and good times.

Cheers

3

Wednesday’s Theme Music — Parenting

Ashland, southern Oregon — Wednesday, July 29, 2026.

July is trickling toward the end, but summer continues unabated. 68 F now, blue skies, etc., high of 91 F today here in our valley.

Mom’s house was supposed to close tomorrow. But we’re uncertain at this point if it will. We will know later today.

Was strangely lethargic yesterday, bereft of energy. Got up early, took the car in for routine maintenance. Came back and I felt like I was being deflated. Slept a great deal. Feel much better today.

Trump has denied Oregon funds and assistance for fighting its two largest fires. No straightforward reason given — there was some strange language but it’s probably because Oregon votes blue. The irony is that Trump carried the affected areas.

From the article:

The East Evans Creek Fire reached nearly 16,000 acres with more than 230 homes on Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation orders. Despite also threatening roads, bridges and other infrastructure, FEMA denied a firefighting grant application on July 22.

The Row Creek Fire Complex, meanwhile, was at one time the largest fire in the country, sprawling as of Tuesday over nearly 300,000 acres. It’s expected to merge soon with the nearby Brewer Fire. When the application was made, more than 400 people were on Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation orders.

According to the senators’ letter, FEMA denied the applications after a shift in terms — one seemingly small but radical in effect. FEMA’s policy manual states that an FMAG is warranted when a fire “threatens such destruction as would constitute a major disaster,” the senators said, but the agency seemingly determined that fires would only qualify for FMAGs if they might also receive a major disaster declaration, which is a specific designation used for other forms of FEMA assistance.

From what I’ve read of Trump voters, they’re probably (mostly) saying, “That’s okay. He’s doing it to punish the state of Oregon because of their policies. So we’re good with it.” Even if, in punishing the state, these voters are the ones who will take the brunt of the punishment. But they’re staying with him because, he’s Trump, and he tells it like it is and speaks up for them.

Rep. Cliff Bentz (Trump, OR) said nothing about those fires not getting any assistance. Instead, Bentz lavished praise on the Trump administration for providing approval to fight three smaller fires. spe

In Trump Double Standard news, Trump is now doing something that he blasted President Biden about.

Trump criticized Biden for draining America’s oil reserves. They’re now at a 43-year low amidst a Middle East war

Yes, that is classic Trump. Accused President Biden of being out of touch and tired; now that’s exactly how Trump is often perceived. Postured that President Obama played too much golf, while he, Trump, would NEVER golf because he would be too busy — yet, Trump golfs more than any other POTUS. Kept on bashing President Biden about inflation and affordability. Now he says, they don’t matter. Bashed President Biden about being corrupt as he, Trump, makes over $2B from serving We the People in his second term.

Now your Trump Quote of the Day:

This is fascinating. He already has torched the ‘I’m A Great Businessman’ meme. After that, Trump, married three times, convicted of crimes, a serial adulterer, came out about how religious he is. Then he pushed law and order while breaking laws. Alongside that, he preached against shithole countries and people of color. Then he rolled out terrorism, calling ANTIFA — which is not an organization — a terrorist group. Next: the red menace — communism — is back.

But Trump is losing ground. So now he’s saying, think of me as your parent. Look how much more I’ve done for you than your own parents.

That does two things simultaneously. One, it’ll work with some weak minds, just as his other lies found purchase. Some will say, yes, Trump is better for me than my parents ever were!

Second, it’s a terrific new distraction from the rising affordability problem, the Epstein files, the ongoing, growing Iran war, the wretched ‘renovations’ Trump is doing, Trump’s inability to do the job, and his long list of broken promises and outlandish claims.

Most of us see it for what it is. We’ll shake our heads again and then wait, wondering what new distraction and effort will come about from Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!

Today’s song is “Father of Mine” by Everclear. The Neurons loaded the 1998 song into the morning mental music stream after I read and digested Trump’s claim about doing more for me than my parents. I vehemently disagree with that claim.

The song is a bitter tirade about a man feeling abandoned by his father.

Sample Lyrics

Father of mine
Tell me, where have you been?
Yeah, I just closed my eyes
And the world disappeared
Father of mine
Tell me, how do you sleep?
With the children you abandoned
And the wife I saw you beat

I will never be safe
I will never be sane
I will always be weird inside
I will always be lame
Now I’m a grown man
With a child of my own
And I swear, I’m not gonna let her know
All the pain I have known

May you have a strong day — full of joy, good health, friends and family.

Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music — Roll with it

Ashland, southern Oregon — Tuesday, July 28, 2026.

We’re still in the 60 (low) to 90 F daily range. Living under blue skies and sunshine, watching our water levels trickle away.

Yesterday found our air good again in the morning. Then smoke trickled in. Looking for the source, I was in hit in the face with this headline:

Size of Oregon wildfires skyrocket to more than 1M acres burned over the weekend

About all I’m writing today. Feeling tired. Returning to bed. Reading.

Hope you have a solid day.

Cheers

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