Blog: If I understand this

From the Past:  The U.S. Secret Service was originally created on July 5, 1865, during the Civil War, to fight counterfeiting, which was a huge problem. By the end of the war, between 1/3 and 1/2 of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit. Provided by FactRetriever.com

……………………………….

News:  US Navy’s Blue Angels Selects Its First Female Jet Pilot for Aerial Acrobatic Team – I saw them once close up when I was a kid in Jax., FL and they did a flyover at Jax Beach; really close to the ground and the boardwalk.

……………………………….

CNN:  Millions at risk. The US spent a fraction of its budget on USAID, but a Lancet (British medical magazine) study suggests millions could die in the developing world without its support. – What I have read for years is that our total foreign aid amounts to less than 1 % of our budget. – Do they think letting kids die will make us friends around the world?  Did Netanyahu convince Trump of that?

……………………………..

The New Yorker magazine is now 100 years old.

…………………………..

A long time ago, a younger brother, I’ll call “J,” worked in New York at one of those massive, high-tech and high-security data processing companies.  No windows, armed guards, etc. They did all kinds of large, sometimes valuable projects.  They got a contract to count all the votes for the baseball All-Star teams.  This was in the IBM punch card days.  Over a few drinks, we hatched a plot.  We thought there would be bets you could make in a sports room at the Vegas hotels on the voting.  My brother knew who was leading the votes for every position.  I would go to Vegas and call J at a certain time.  He would give me the heads up before they contacted the commissioner of baseball.  I would casually go around to sports books on the Strip and place bets.  Eventually, we would bet more and take in a few others in our plan.  It sounded pretty good late that night, but fell apart the next day, in the harsh light, like so many plans we hatched, when we found out there was no “line” on such a thing.

……………………………..

BBC:  On Tuesday the White House said that it had cut off some weapons deliveries to Ukraine in order “to put America’s interests first”.  — Lessee, those weapons were approved by Biden.  Trump likes Putin, and said he would “pick up a country for two dollars in sanctions.”  Go figure.

………………………………

In sports:  Ever read about a cricket match and try to understand it?  Not for me.  Need interpreter.

…………………………..

……………………………

From MSNBC:  The truth is, the majority of people living in poverty in America today are not Black. They are white, rural Americans, children and veterans. They are seniors on fixed incomes or single mothers juggling multiple jobs and still coming up short. The face of poverty is not who many Americans have been conditioned to see. – Gee, guess what that would be.

……………………………..

CBS:  Trump asks Supreme Court to let him fire members of Consumer Product Safety Commission – Well, you don’t need any help do you?  Inspect those products yourself!

………………………………

You never had Jiffy peanut butter – it was always just “Jif.”

……………………………

Oh, the hypocrisy!  Melania Trump Did a Children’s Hospital Photo-Op As GOP Ripped Health Care From Millions.

…………………………..

One way the really rich stay that way:  If you win $15M in the lottery, you pay taxes on it, about $4M or so.  If you inherit $15M from a rich parent, you pay nothing.

……………………………..

A tweet on the internet:

A close friend said his wife referred to him as her “trophy husband.” So, I asked my wife if I was her trophy husband. She said, “Yeah, but it’s more like a participation trophy.”

…………………………………

As Bolts Magazine Editor-in-Chief Daniel Nichanian noted after the vote: “The Senate’s small-state ultra-bias is never more maddening than when one senator (Murkowski, Alaska) uses it to get benefits for her 740,000 constituents while openly acknowledging the bill she’s supporting will harm the nation’s 339 million other residents.”

…………………………………

Visiting a National Park this summer?  The Park Service has lost 24% of its permanent staff since Mr. Trump took office in January.  Also not hiring as many temps.  You don ‘t need no damn lifeguard, do you?  Or a hiking map?  Or emergency help?

…………………………………

A reminder: “There are no Medicaid cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill. We’re not cutting Medicaid,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on “Meet the Press.”  Wink, wink.  Nudge, nudge.

……………………………

I included this Ziggy cartoon in honor of all those medicine commercials during which they spend more time telling you how dangerous it is, than how much good it might do you.

…………………….

Headline: Pentagon Confirms Pause on Ukraine Aid, Blames Biden for Sending Too Many Weapons – maybe they should ask Ukraine if there is such a thing as “too many weapons.”

…………………………..

This:  Jen Psaki shares details of a New York Times report that shows Donald Trump’s precarious financial situation before his second term, and how he’s leveraging the presidency now to supply his business with badly needed income. July 3, 2025 – I think we will eventually find out more.  How much does he still owe that German bank, for example?

…………………………….

I read that the storm in Texas caused the Guadalupe River to rise over 20 feet in less than an hour.  Don’t think I have ever heard of such a thing! – But, wait.  Shouldn’t we cut more funding from the weather bureau, like Trump wants?  And FEMA, too?

…………………………….

From MSNBC:  Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin wrote a letter urging his state’s Democratic governor to take steps to protect rural hospitals from the fallout of Republicans’ widely reviled budget bill — which Van Orden voted for.  He’s even worse than Sen. Murkowski.

…………………………..

When you say, “I could care less,” shouldn’t it be, “I couldn’t care less?”

……………………………..

In the “Ya Think Things Have Gone Too Far” Dept.:  Idaho bans ‘Everyone Is Welcome Here’ classroom signs, calling them ideological!

……………………………..

Local offices at the National Weather Service had staffing shortages that might have led to a harder time forecasting Central Texas’s severe rain and deadly floods, according to The New York Times. – Well, yeah, we have seen that and predicted it.

…………………………….

Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants to Make Weather Manipulation A Felony

This would be funny except that some years ago when a hurricane hit the Carolinas, she said that Democrats were manipulating the weather to hit Republican areas.  Of course, she also said Jewish Space lasers started California forest fires, and no, she has not recanted either of these stupid statements.

And:  Conspiracy theorists have long claimed that government or other shadowy organizations have been manipulating the weather by releasing chemicals in the air, leaving white streaks in the sky which they call chemtrails. 

The Environmental Protection Agency has explained that the cloud-like lines are condensation trails left behind after hot exhaust from aircrafts collide with cold air at high altitudes.

……………………………

It was a nice day here, almost a boring 72 and sunny.  As I sat outside, I did feel thankful that we live here.  I mean, people pay to find weather like this!

……………………………

Finally, a charity I sometimes give money to sent me a calendar — for 2026, which starts six months from now.  On the cover, in large letters, it said: “Open Immediately!”

……………………………

Enough for today.

All take care,

Kevin