Millions of Americans are borrowing money or draining their savings to buy groceries, highlighting the financial strain many households face as the cost-of-living rises, new research has found.
More than a quarter of working-age adults who relied on credit cards to buy groceries were either unable to pay their balance in full or missed their minimum payment, according to the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. Over the past five years, grocery prices have jumped 32%.
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All four teams left in the World Cup have won it before.
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As of today, July 13th, Trump says we will control Hormuz and charge a fee of 20% for ships to pass. Twenty percent of what? The value of the cargo? Easily, with a large ship, that could be in the millions. No way to do business. “We guarded the strait for 50 years and never got paid for it,” Trump said. — Why is it always about money to Trump? NATO is a problem because the other countries don’t pay in enough . . . Update one day later: Trump now says there will not be a 20% charge, because he has deals working with countries there. Unspecified, of course. Details later . . . maybe in two weeks. CNN says the reversal on tolls is: Simultaneously a recognition that the resumption of the war will wreak havoc on the economy and evidence that the administration may be making things up as it goes along.
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In baseball: All-Stars oppose MLB salary cap
Not a surprise that many, if not all, of the highest paid players don’t want any limits on salary!!
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He delayed it for three years, but:
Writer E. Jean Carroll finally has the $5 million — plus interest — that a jury ordered President Donald Trump to pay her in damages in one of her two cases against him, after Trump fought the payout for years.
Court records posted Tuesday show a transfer of $5,625,005.48 to Carroll’s legal team took place the day before.
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Odd thing: Lest you doubt France’s commitment to wine, know this: Until 1956, French schoolchildren were served it during lunch. Even the ban that came into effect that year applied only to enfants under the age of 14, and alcohol wasn’t banned from schools entirely until surprisingly recently.
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Didja notice the imaginary “gash” in the reflecting pool, according to Trump and his cronies, has gone from 200 feet to 300 feet, and now to 900 feet!!! Why, the problem keeps getting worse, with no evidence, kinda like the 2020 voter fraud!
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MSNOW’s partial opinion of Trump’s speech:
The speech was a desperate attempt to undermine confidence in our democratic system and lay the groundwork for an unprecedented and illegal attempt to control elections from the White House itself.
And its opinion of ICE traffic stops: The real issue isn’t whether the traffic stops are now ending or continuing — it’s that ICE agents are never held accountable for killing people. – Exactly.
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We don’t need no regulation!! Hundreds of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees filed back into the office this week for the first time in years. Hundreds more, scattered across the country, are being told to move to Washington by Nov. 2 or lose their jobs.
That’s a move workers and their union say is a mass layoff by another name.
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NFL fans: League is considering making a 60+ yard field goal worth 4 points. One kicker’s opinion: “It makes you really, really question your playcalling around that 50-yard line area. It’s interesting for kickers that have the leg to get it there, maybe [there’s] a little bit more value there. But kind of perverses the incentives of football where the goal is to get it as close to the other person’s half as possible.” Exactly. But that’s what the 3-pointer in basketball does, too.
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Does Trump have a Pardon Price List now?
Rapper Boosie Badazz Paid $600,000 To Get Trump to Pardon Him. It Didn’t End Well.
The rapper, born Torence Hatch, reportedly paid $600,000 last year to far-right lobbyists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman of JM Burkman & Associates after assurances that their political connections could help him secure clemency from President Donald Trump. He now wants his money back! That’s the funniest part, Trump returning money!!!
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A little short this week. We were gone a couple of days, then there was the World Cup, which I watch more or less faithfully, every four years. . . sometimes . . . maybe . . . if I have to . . . . I guess . . .
All take care,
Kevin
Blog: If I understand this 
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