unraveling

30.July.2026

Electricity time

Idaho Power's notice of Auto Pay Payment Confirmation in my inbox this morning, I was interested to see how peaky we were here into A/C season. We leverage our big trees, and cool nights/low humidity to avoid just setting and forgetting the air conditioner. I also try to avoid using during the afternoon peak if I can. Wait until after 5pm before trying to shed the head of the day. When it doesn't cool off below 70° in the evening and overnight (or when there's too much smoke in the air, as we've had for most of the last week), I use the heat pump. The cost is relatively modest for our small house.

Cut to the chase: the latest bill was $40.21, less than I would have guessed. It's for 06/13-07/13, which is before the heat, smoke, and warm nights kicked in. The usage for those 31 days was only 224 kWh; either no A/C, or hardly any. The "Summer Energy Charge," and "Power Cost Adjustment" and "Fixed Cost Adjustment" add up to 12.7¢/kWh. The fixed service charge is $15, and there's a potpourri of bits and bobs, dominated by the $5/mo "AC Cycling Demand Response Credit," for giving them a remote kill switch on our compressor. It's possible our abstemiousness and my clever timing has avoided it ever being used, but IDK.

Our bill runs $35-40 most months of late. The account home page has a big block with "Next Estimated Bill" which its info bubble says is "based on your energy use," and doesn't include other service fees, which means it could be off by almost a factor of 2. Still the numbers showing are larger than we've seen in 40+ years. $66.26 — $99.40. For realio?! There's a horizontal bar graph-like object showing "Energy Charges to Date," and "Charges" for last month, and last July. Our billing cycle is mid-month, so mileage varies, but the three numbers, graphed with significantly different bar lengths are $37.41 (charges to date), $36.34 (last month), $35.54 (last year).

The first question is, what the hell kind of "graph" is that? The daily usage graph does show me when our A/C used kicked in, July 15. Our typical non-A/C usage is 8kWh/day, and we can double or triple that if we need A/C (because it's over 100° outside, and doesn't cool until after midnight, etc.).

It looks like the low end of their estimate was based on extrapolating the average for July 14–27 out to a month-long cycle. And the high end was maybe picking the highest day in this cycle, and multiplying that by 30? Those guesses are high, and crazy high. But "we'll see." Since I went down the rabbit hole, here are two more graphs from Idaho Power's usage info. Usage for the month (by day), with average outdoor temperature; and hourly usage on an "A/C" day to show how we use it.

27.July.2026

The chief law enforcement officer of Idaho

First things first: Idaho does have a well-qualified candidate for Attorney General: Lori Hickman. Someone who recognizes the job as being the people's lawyer, "protecting consumers, keeping communities safe, defending the Constitution, and providing honest, independent legal advice to state agencies and elected officials. It means doing what the law requires, even when it is politically inconvenient." I recommend her to you.

The Republican incumbent, Raúl Labrador, on the other hand, has made good on his last campaign promise to be a partisan, first and foremost. It isn't a good look. Labrador is not as bad as thug's former, or the acting US AG Todd Blanche (who may further the travesty by getting confirmed by the spineless GOP in the Senate). But he's dyed in the wool MAGA, and trying to prove his bona fides day to day on social media. (It's campaign season, you know.)

He quoted a post reporting ICE's record 43,000 arrests last month, surpassing the 42,000 in December, while Operation Metro Surge was happening in Minneapolis. (It was the next month that US citizen Renée Good was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross as part of thug's civil war, and CBP agents murdered Alex Pretti.)

Labrador wanted to make it clear which side he's on:

"I know a lot of people hear that and think the enforcement and crackdown are harsh. As a former immigration attorney and Chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee in Congress, I think about it differently.

"Every one of those arrests is a win for the person who’s been waiting their turn in line to immigrate legally and watched people skip it for years. It’s a win for the construction worker whose wages have been undercut by an illegal labor market. And it’s a win for the family whose neighborhood is no longer dealing with a repeat offender who kept getting released.

"We don’t have to apologize for wanting a country that enforces its laws and prioritizes our citizens. It’s what a functioning and just nation should do."

I reposted his little clap clap, and said this:

"Your 'looking at it differently' has one hell of a leap of faith in its assumption that every one of those 43,000 arrests in one month—more than 1,400 EVERY DAY—was a 'good' arrest, removing someone from the queue [who didn't belong there]; the perverted assumption that if someone was arrested, they must have been guilty.

"The Stephen Miller reign of psychopathic terror has turned a quasi-militarized, nearly unaccountable (beyond making their arrest quota, that is), poorly trained, and too often murderously savage militia loose on the homeland.

"You do, in fact, have to apologize for your part (even if it's only blathering campaign fodder such as this Facebook post) in VIOLATING the laws of the land, in service to a corrupt and demented executive branch. Chipping off "functioning and just" as if they apply to what's happening right now is almost as demented as thug."

Update:
Jim Jones is in, too. Probably better than mine. Raul Labrador’s reelection campaign misfires on immigration, again.

"Labrador may be misreading the mood of the public on the brutal tactics of ICE. We were told early on that ICE would target “the worst of the worst.” That was fine with many people, but it turns out that the ICE deportation machine is sweeping up substantially more law-abiding immigrants than dangerous criminals. In fact, an increasing number of detainees do not have any criminal history....

"My unsolicited advice to the Attorney General is to get your facts straight before badmouthing the people who put food on your table. And don’t stand silent while ICE targets people just because of their Hispanic heritage. Everyone in Idaho deserves to be treated with dignity and respect."

Can't spell EMERGENCY without "ME"

There a stack of reading and writing I need to catch up with, and today I started with Letters from an American, for July 26. It opens in arresting fashion, describing the first year and a half of Thug 2.0 in a nutshell, emphasis added:

"From the time he took office in January 2025, Trump and his cronies have not simply challenged laws or constitutional provisions. They have acted as if the Constitution doesn’t exist."

Last August, thug spelled out his theory of power under emergency, where an "emergency" is anything he and Stephen Miller say it is, simply, justifying deploying troops to American cities.

“I have the right to do anything I want to do,” he said. “I’m the president of the United States. If I think our country’s in danger—and it is in danger in the cities—I can do it.”

On Bastilled Day, we found out that the National Guard deployment in D.C. has been extended until 2029, on a supposed "anti-crime" mission, "unless the president deems otherwise."

We don't need facts in Bizarro world: by DOJ's own report, violent crime was at a 30-year low a year ago, when the deployment started. When there was an emergency calling for extraordinary measures, on January 6, 2021, thug 1.0 sat on his hands and let the mob he'd called forth defile the Capitol, and threaten the lives of members of Congress, and his own vice president. So, now, a preemptivve deployment, normalized through almost the whole second term?

There are "emergencies" everywhere you look, now. "Foreign trade and economic practices have created a national emergency," don't you know, never mind the highest court in the law striking down the random tariffs enacted on the American people. Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, gives an "international financial emergency" ticket to Ride for 150 days. Then—now—"section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 permits the president to impose tariffs on countries that are using forced labor." That's "something that President Trump has been focused on for many years," who knew?

The guy who was supposedly going to put "American First" has always and ever put himself first. That's included an on-again, off-again, on-again "excursion" in Iran that is giving the oleaginous major major Pestosterone a license to kill, and discount all "enemy" deaths (you know, the 120 school children would have grown up) as well as inconvenient ones of our own.

Speaking of mental health crises, the Occupy Democrats account posted a list on Facebook of the "insane nonsense" that DOPUS posted "nonstop, all day" on his personal grievance antisocial medium. Did he get rained out of playing golf or something? For the record, so to speak:

11:16 AM - AI photo of Kaitlan Collins as Dylan Mulvaney
11:43 AM - AI image attacking Bruce Springsteen
3:22 PM - An AI art installation of Trump throwing a ‘Trump 2028’ hat
3:23 PM - Photo of him standing next to a TV with Biden’s final Oval Office address playing
3:23 PM - AI art of him giving his speech at the WHCD
3:23 PM - AI photo of Chris Christie fighting Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler
3:23 PM - AI image attacking Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert
3:24 PM - Trump 2028 poster that says “give the enemy nightmares.” Nobody is scared of him
3:24 PM - AI image attacking Rosie O’Donnell
3:25 PM - Fake movie poster of him in Star Trek
3:25 PM - Another Trump 2028 poster
3:31 PM - AI poster of the U.S. attacking Kharg Island in Iran
3:31 PM - AI image of him taking over an Iranian oil tanker
3:32 PM - AI image of him taking over an Iranian oil tanker x2
3:33 PM - AI image of him taking over an Iranian oil tanker x3
3:47 PM - Posts an AI image of an Iranian ship being blown up
4:36 PM - AI image of him taking over an Iranian oil tanker x4
4:36 PM - AI image of him taking over an Iranian oil tanker x5
4:37 PM - AI image of him taking over an Iranian oil tanker x6
4:39 PM - AI image of him cosplaying as a Navy Commander
4:39 PM - AI image of him smoking a cigar wearing a Trump 2028 hat
4:40 PM - AI poster of him with founding fathers
4:41 PM - Poster of himself saying “the man who saved America” which couldn’t be further from the truth
4:41 PM - Weird photo of him standing behind a pillar
4:45 PM - AI image of himself saying “Guardians of the world”
4:47 PM - AI image of American jets saying “Guardian Angels of the world”
4:48 PM - Another AI photo of an Iranian ship being blown up
4:49 PM - AI image of himself saying “Guardians of the world” x2
4:52 PM - AI photo of lightning over the Capitol building saying “panic in DC”
4:53 PM - A photo of himself saying “plan trusted”
4:54 PM - AI image of an eagle and a jet saying “America is back” which certainly isn’t true
4:54 PM - AI photo of a beach saying “Trump’s America” which is ironic given that the image is fake lol
4:55 PM - Photo of him giving a speech
4:56 PM - Photo of himself pointing at members of his cabinet
4:57 PM - AI photo of himself and JFK
4:58 PM - Fake photo of himself wearing a pink Trump 2028 hat
4:59 PM - AI photo of a Trump 2028 mug surrounded by crying people
4:59 PM - Photo of him putting on his Trump 2028 hat at the WHCD
5:00 PM - Posts graph downplaying American casualties in Iran
5:01 PM - AI photo of an air filter between the United States and Canada
5:04 PM - Attacks Republican Senator John Thune
5:04 PM - AI image of him as a doctor
5:16 PM - Fake movie poster of him and George Washington in a time travel movie

23.July.2026

World afire

We're sharing the "smoke-filled air" experience with much of the country right now. Ours is coming from Oregon, and pushing that air quality needle into the orange, and sometimes red (except when it's not showing data as it wasn't this morning). We're back down to "Moderate," yellow, 79 late afternoon, with thunderstorms pending, after a sunny, smoky day.

Just finished editing and posting five dozen photos to Facebook, on trails around (and a little bit into) the aftermath of the Claremont Fire, which toasted most of 7,000 acres from just above town up to the Boise Ridge Road, starting on July 6. No lives, no structures lost, but a lot of landscape marred for a good time to come.

I was still feeling sorry for ourselves, when I saw the National Interagency Fire Center National Fire News for today. Opening paragraphs for those who don't do Facebook:

"Firefighters are working to suppress and contain 70 large fires across the country, including 5 new large incidents since yesterday. 21,171 firefighters and support personnel are engaged in nationwide fire activity, including 478 crews, 1,161 engines, and 128 helicopters.

"So far this year, 41,377 fires have burned more than 3.9 million acres across the United States. Red flag warnings are in place in several places, especially southern and central Oregon, and extreme heat warnings are in effect throughout the southern United States. The Northwest Geographic Area continues to pose special concern, with more heavy thunderstorm activity predicted today."

Our nearby fire is a bit less than 0.2% of that total acreage. It could have been worse. It's almost certain to get worse. Their nifc.gov link to more National Fire News.

17.July.2026

The big speech you didn't see

Life is too short, you know? But plenty of my favorite commentators saw enough to affirm my choice to trim my toenails instead of tuning in. Robert Hubbell gets enough in the hed, he doesn't need a dek: In desperation, Trump delivers a nothingburger speech in prime time, carried by a single network. And his lede: "That was it?!"

The more important story might be the second one in his substack post: Disturbing information on the background of the ICE agent who killed Maine man. A history of “violent and terrifying behavior,” mental illness, and domestic abuse, what a total surprise, totally out of synch with the current administration, right? Hubbell's conclusion:

"ICE is drunk with the money and impunity gifted to the agency by Republicans. ICE is broken beyond repair. While the US may need an agency to enforce immigration laws, ICE is not that agency. It should be abolished and replaced."

As usual, Hubbell is a worthwhile, and sobering read, and wraps with "Pro-democracy protest photos" from around the country. Hard to pick a favorite, but the Palms Boulevard overpass over the 405 in West LA is in the running.

PROTECT OUR VOTE     STOP ICE MURDERS

Apologies to readers who can't (or won't) take a Facebook jump, but that seems to be the main medium for Jim Wright ("Stonekettle") these days, and his outstanding photography and insightful political commentary are two of many good things that keep me on the platform. Here's the top of his summary of last night's thug show, my emphasis added:

"Highest inflation in the G7. Explosive diarrhea. Can't afford meat. Can't afford gas. Can't afford rent and sure as hell can't afford to buy a house. The country is at war, again, still, whatever the term is for this shitshow. Farms in foreclosure because farmers can't sell their crops, can't afford seeds, can't even get fertilizer. Government goons kicking in doors without a warrant, detaining people without due process, murdering citizens in the street. Rich getting rich and the poor getting poorer.

"And Trump goes on TV to complain about imaginary fraud in an election six years ago where the only provable fraud was Trump himself attempting to extort a state into "finding" him enough votes to win.

"That's where we're at.

"Highlights include:

"- Trump thinks mail-in ballots are totally corrupt. But he himself along with his family vote by mail-in ballot every year.

"- Trump says the 2016 election and the 2024 elections that put him in office were fine, but the 2020 election where he lost was corrupt. Obama was president in 2016, Biden was president in 2024, TRUMP was president for the alleged corrupt 2020 election. Trump is literally saying the only corrupt elections were under his watch.

And more. "Highlights" seems like the wrong word, but ok. Later:

"[T]his is a president who has confused "political asylum" with "insane asylum" and who just this week confused "transistors" for "transgenders" when ranting about the manufacture of microchips."

The state of the swamp is reflecting the putrefaction of the Republican Party and its hijacker. "That moment" when thug lost his nut in his stagey "Meet the Press" in a Wisconsin barn; we've barely moved an inch from "Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time."

Update:
Democracy Docket has analysis of what happened, with the benefit of lots of experience suing and winning against the administration's lawless election rigging initiatives. Trump pushes debunked election lies, demands SAVE America Act in primetime speech. And related, State election chiefs condemn Trump’s long-debunked election lies.

16.July.2026

The house always wins, but...

Front page big news and photo in today's Idaho Press, Idaho Lottery celebrates largest-ever dividend, with the governor, the lottery commission chairman, and the CFO of the Idaho Department of Education holding up a novelty check for Fifty-six million two hundred fifty thousand an 00/100 Dollars. That's a lot of scratch(ing) and losing. For, uh, a good cause, right?

Oh but wait, there's more! The record "dividend" in state-sponsored gambling was NINETY MILLION DOLLARS. Fifty-six and a quarter to the Department of Education, and $33.75M to the Permanent Building Fund Advisory Council. (There's another photo op, and novelty check in hand, online.)

The take is up 20% from last year, and tops the previous biggest year (2024) by $6 million. "Our retail partners earned more commissions than any year previously," the Lottery Commission chairman gushed, "and our players have won more prizes than any year."

Huh. Is it just money from heaven? I don't know about counting prizes, but it sure sounds like "our players" actually LOST more money than ever before. Assuming they weren't losing deliberately for the good cause?

Speaking of the industry in cultural scams, I'm old enough to have seen weird ads for something called Kalshi, but not to know what the heck it is, until now. It's a "prediction market," which is a nice euphmeism for "bet on anything." (Except maybe not in Idaho; the Lottery Commission guards its monopoly quite tightly.) We even have a federal agency that regulates prediction markets, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. "Futures," don't you know.

Remember way back in March when there was news of "an Army Special Forces soldier with using classified information to bet on the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, on Polymarket," another bookie joint? Anyway, now there's a guy who used Kalshi to win $100,000 placing bets "on common words that would appear in the president’s speeches," which sounds like nice work if you can get it. But Kalshi has "surveillance systems," which found something fishy going on. (I think that means "someone other than us winning too much.")

Turns out Gabriel Perez's day job was "technical assistant" to the president, more specifically, he was one of the White House teleprompter operators. Oops.

You'll be reassured to hear that Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, told reporters that “There are very strict ethical requirements by all staffers and officials here at the White House.” Riiiight. Very strict.

12.July.2026

Passing notes

Holy cow, 10 days whizzed by, with no word from me? I did keep up a little on Facebook, Blue Sky, text messages, but was distracted by all the distractions, the World Cup, Wimbledon, another N starts and stops of the war on Iran (currently "on"), the first big heat wave of the summer, all those unsafe and insane fireworks lit off by every yahoo with hundreds of thousands of dollars to light on fire, because AMERICA TWO FIFTY BABY, and unbridled testosterone, and then, suspiciously, just after the big celebratory blow-up, a fire started near Claremont Drive, at the wildland-urban interface at the spendy top of "Boise Heights," and proceeded to burn Hulls Gulch and everything else between 8th Street and Rocky Canyon, up to the Boise Ridge Road, while firefighters did their best to keep it from wreaking even greater havoc.

I was up that way, early on the 4th of July, and would've taken a lot more pictures if I'd known it was 2½ days from burning up. The good news is, it's been 57% contained after burning 6,800 acres; the bad news is temperatures in the high 90s are going to continue for another week, and estimated full contaiment is out to August 1.

On the national scene, we're still being looted by thug 2.0 and his crime family, who turned our semiquincentennial of declaring independence into "a partisan demonstration of the raw power of the executive branch" (as Professor Kim Scheppele, a specialist of Eastern Europe, put it), and who is trying to fortify the White House and pre-steal the midterm elections so that he can stay in power even further past his sell-by date. Inflation is still raging, and we're in the Schrödinger quiet period before the full force and effect of war in Ukraine and Russia and Lebanon and Iran and so on hits home. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Stay tuned for daily updates on every channel other than this one! In Joyce Vance's subscriber-only (sorry) "Five Questions" with Scheppele, she says:

"Trump has aimed at creating an autocracy, which is not a simple difference in political opinion. He has taken a chainsaw to both American institutions and democratic values with the intent that they never return. He is reducing American government to rubble so that his successor (assuming there is one) will inherit a broken and corrupted state."

Speaking of broken and corrupted, Senator Lindsey Graham died of “a brief and sudden illness” on Saturday evening made headlines today, "after recently returning from a trip to Ukraine," which might just be one of the things that happens to you right after you turn 71, or it might be another poisoning by Russian operatives, payback for his being a staunch supporter of Ukraine, even after thug seemed to have lost interest in that war. (Speaking of Schrödinger's quiet period, no one has provided convincing proof of life for Senator Mitch McConnell lately.)

2.July.2026

Read it and weep

As our 250th anniversary celebration and the Great American State Fair fizzles into a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, we are supposed to believe the spokespeople who insist that “The only special interest guiding the Trump administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people," and

“Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged—or will ever engage—in conflicts of interest…. All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people.”

Gee, I wonder if they have any bridges for sale? Robert Reich boils it down before the salutation: Trump Has No Conflicts of Interest; He has only one interest, and he's not at all conflicted about it.

Heather Cox Richardson's July 1 Letter from an American details out some of the joy ride thug is on, the same day he got to ride on his the Department of Defense's new airplane. With Senator Chris Murphy's June 23 outline of the national crisis thug's single-minded self interest has brought us to. With my emphasis added:

"The pay-to-play schemes. The pardons for donors. The contracts for friends. The favors for [his] children. The use of inside information to make money. This is not a disconnected series of scandals. This is a system....

"That is why he doesn’t have time for you. He doesn’t have time to solve real problems because he’s making money for himself and his friends.

"And he’s betting that the corruption will be so constant that we stop hearing it. That the outrage will just turn into exhaustion, and the exhaustion will just turn into acceptance.

“We can’t let that happen. Because once corruption becomes normal, it becomes permanent. The White House is not a business opportunity. The presidency is not a license to steal from the American people. The government of the United States doesn’t exist to make Donald Trump rich.

“It belongs to the American people. And after 500 days of corruption, Democrats and Republicans in [Congress], along with the American people, should start acting like it.”

Bonus blog post for your 250th holiday week, from Robert B. Hubbell: [Thug's] corruption takes center stage on the nation’s 250th anniversary. That includes a "gift afticle" link to the Wall Street Journal (which requires you to subscribe or set up a "free account," ugh), which spells it out in the hed and dek, just like Robert Reich, but from the bloody Wall Street Journal editorial board:

The Trump Family and ‘Honest Graft’
"They are profiting off the Presidency in ways that demean the office."

Hubbell's pull quote from the editorial, launched with one hell of an assumption before simping into "unseemly":

"Assuming all of this is legal, it’s still an unseemly display of using the Presidency for family profit. It’s hard to believe the Trump boys would be able to do the same deals if Dad wasn’t in the Oval Office. The main difference between Hunter Biden’s foreign dealings and the Trump projects is that the Trumps are brazenly open about theirs."

Hell, I'm old enough to remember Tricky Dick's famous maxim (no, not "I'm not a crook"), "When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal." I'm also old enough to remember the Congress was prepared to impeach and convict his sorry ass, before he resigned, and long before the Roberts Court greenlighted thuggery to say "yeah, that sounds about right." Anyway, while you're seething, take the jump to Hubbell's Today's Edition Newsletter and enjoy the compendium of protesters and their signs from around the country.

1.July.2026

To Form a More Perfect Union

As we prepare to light up whizbangs and stupid loud reports, and set some of our neighborhoods on fire, Andy Borowitz described our patriotic duty, in A New Declaration of Independence from Tyranny and invited us to share it.

When in the course of human events a tyrant imperils a nation, it is the duty of those who cherish democracy to remove him from power.

We the People refuse to tolerate a despot who threatens our country and the world.

• He has engaged in corrupt schemes to profit from his office, plunder the Treasury, and steal from the taxpayers.
• He has desecrated the People’s House and the nation’s capital.
• He has perverted the Department of Justice to take revenge on his perceived enemies.
• He has vandalized the federal government, replacing experienced professionals with incompetent sycophants.
• He has deployed a domestic army of masked thugs to terrorize, torture, and kill.
• He has shredded aid for those most in need, at home and abroad, spreading hunger, sickness, and death.
• He has betrayed the nation’s allies and collaborated with its foes.
• And he has committed war crimes, ordering unprovoked attacks on foreign countries, targeting civilians, and massacring children.

We reject him and his enablers.

They must be held accountable and brought to justice.

And such tyranny must never contaminate this nation again.

Today we vow to set the United States on a new course.

To eliminate racism, sexism, and inequality.

To embrace honesty, empathy, and kindness.

To form a more perfect Union.

Thug crypto: heads he wins, tails you lose

Speaking of engaging in corrupt schemes to profit from his office, Steve Rattner's datagraphic of Family Gains vs. Investor Losses captures $2.3 billion worth of corruption for us. As the big man himself likes to say, "What the hell did you expect?"

raveling

Tom von Alten