Friday, July 4, 2025

Something to Know - 4 July

A DAY OF MOURNING

Keep the Faith
We Still Celebrate

Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American heathercoxrichardson@substack.com 

8:33 PM (59 minutes ago)
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And on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

For all the fact that the congressmen got around the sticky little problem of Black and Indigenous enslavement by defining "men" as "white men," and for all that it never crossed their minds that women might also have rights, the Declaration of Independence was an astonishingly radical document. In a world that had been dominated by a small class of rich men for so long that most people simply accepted that they should be forever tied to their status at birth, a group of upstart legislators on the edges of a continent declared that no man was born better than any other.

America was founded on the radical idea that all men are created equal.

What the founders declared self-evident was not so clear eighty-seven years later, when southern white men went to war to reshape America into a nation in which African Americans, Indigenous Americans, Chinese, Mexicans, and Irish were locked into a lower status than white Americans. In that era, equality had become a "proposition," rather than "self-evident."

"Four score and seven years ago," Abraham Lincoln reminded Americans, "our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." In 1863, Lincoln explained, the Civil War was "testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."

It did, of course. The Confederate rebellion failed. The United States endured, and Americans began to expand the idea that all men are created equal to include Black men, men of color, and eventually women.

But just as in the 1850s, we are now, once again, facing a rebellion against our founding principle as a few people seek to reshape America into a nation in which certain people are better than others.

The men who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, pledged their "Lives, [their] Fortunes and [their] sacred Honor" to defend the idea of human equality. Ever since then, Americans have sacrificed their own fortunes, honor, and even their lives, for that principle.

Lincoln reminded Civil War Americans of those sacrifices when he urged the people of his era to "take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Words to live by in 2025.


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****
Juan Matute
The Harold Wilke House 
Claremont, California

Humpty Trumpty Shat on His Wall



Thursday, July 3, 2025

Something to Know - 3 July

There is a tense atmosphere in Congress over the pass or fail of the House on the BBB.   It is now being waged partially on the floor of the legislature, but mostly via phone calls, arm twisting, and smoke-filled back rooms.   This is where it gets pretty scary.   Trump has his bullyness and his love of lies, plus a stash of millions of dollars in his own pocket to bribe anyone he wants to vote his way.   I know, it is not ethical to bribe, but since when is Trump ethical?   On the other hand, private citizen Musk is apparently offering his billions to tug in the opposite direction.   Do we acknowledge that the political operation of our government operates like Mr.Smith going to Washington, or is it like the non-ethical behavior system of the Mafia?   Our system of government runs on cash, not idealism.  We will have the next few hours or days to see for sure.   The Constitution is not a document of ethics, where as the Declaration of Independence is.   The Constitution is the plan on how the government is to work.   We make laws to determine what is legal and illegal.   The laws are made by Congress, and the president is supposed to enforce the laws, and the Supreme Court will determine the legality of the laws.    Trump holds all the cards.   He would like to control every lever of power so that come election time, he can remove the power of the ballot with his martial law.


Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American heathercoxrichardson@substack.com 
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Jul 2, 2025, 11:17 PM (8 hours ago)
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The Senate's passage of its version of the budget reconciliation bill yesterday sent House members rushing back to Washington today to debate passing what the Senate had sent them. The bill is hugely unpopular. It cuts taxes for the wealthiest Americans and corporations and slashes Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, energy credits, and other programs that help the American people, while also pouring money into Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detention facilities for migrants.

While Democratic representatives are united against the measure, people from across the country are flooding lawmakers with calls and demonstrations against the bill in hopes of swaying Republicans. At the office of Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), hundreds of his constituents held a die-in to demonstrate how cuts to healthcare in the bill would affect them.

Far-right Republicans think the bill doesn't make steep enough cuts; Republicans from swing districts recognize that supporting it will badly hurt both their constituents and their hopes of reelection. But Trump has demanded Congress pass the measure before July 4, an arbitrary date he seems to have chosen because of its historical significance.

A new element in the Republicans' calculation emerged a few days ago as billionaire Elon Musk reentered the fight over the measure, warning he would start a new political party over it. He has threatened to run primary challengers against lawmakers who vote yes, a threat that is a counterweight to Trump's threat to run primary challengers against lawmakers who vote no. Already Musk has claimed to be donating to the reelection campaign of Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), an outspoken opponent of the bill.

Representative Sean Casten (D-IL) wrote today about the dysfunction on the House floor. "A functioning House leadership team would work the members, make changes as necessary and bring this bill to the floor once they knew they could pass it. But [speaker] Mike Johnson does not run a functional House leadership team. He does what Daddy says and Daddy said pass it before July 4." This morning, the House took a procedural vote, but recognizing that they did not have the votes to pass the bill itself, Republican leadership refused to close the vote.

Later, House leadership held another vote open for more than two hours when they could not win it. When Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO) challenged this trick, the chair told him that the rules established a minimum time for votes, but no maximum.

To find the votes Republicans need to pass the bill, Trump met today with those expected to vote no. Riley Rogerson and Reese Gorman of NOTUS reported that at a meeting with some of the swing-state Republican holdouts, Trump seemed to believe the lie that the bill doesn't cut Medicaid. Three sources told the reporters Trump told Republicans they shouldn't touch Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security if they want to win elections. "But we're touching Medicaid in this bill," one of the members at the meeting answered.

Trump also met with far-right members, but because the Senate measure must pass the House unchanged, he can offer them little except to promise they will fix the bill after it passes. While that appeared to work on at least one representative, Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN) told the NOTUS reporters: "Now we're having to once again hear the line, 'Let's pass this and then we'll fix it later,' And we never fix it later, and America knows that."

Political journalist Judd Legum of Popular Information posted: "To review: Trump spent all day rounding up votes for his mega bill[.] Trump did not round up enough votes[.] So the 'plan' was just to start voting and bully anyone who votes no until they switch their vote[.] (It could work.)"

Democrats called out Republicans from swing districts, listing the numbers of their constituents who will lose healthcare insurance if the measure passes. They urged Republicans to stand up to Donald Trump, and to stand up for their constituents.

Pennsylvania representative Fitzpatrick faced the die-in at his office and was also so angry at today's news Trump is withholding weapons already pledged to Ukraine that he wrote to Trump today, warning that Ukraine is "holding the line for the entire democratic world" and asking for an emergency briefing on the decision to withhold aid. He voted no on a key procedural vote tonight.

Just after 10:00 tonight, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melanie Zanona reported: "Republicans are trying [to] locate Rep[resentative] Brian Fitzpatrick, who delivered a surprising NO vote on the mega bill rule. Likely to try to flip him. I told a member I saw him bolt out of the chamber & leave the area. 'Smart,' the member said."

As of midnight, the Republicans did not have the votes to advance the measure.

Representative Maxwell Frost (D-FL) posted: "Speaker Johnson should just take the L on this vote. Most of America doesn't want this bill to pass anyways. It's…both the worst and most unpopular piece of legislation in modern history."

On Bluesky, user shauna wrote: "say what you will about [former Democratic House speaker] nancy pelosi (as one of her constituents believe me i have) she'd have impaled herself with a gavel live on the house floor before she'd have allowed this sh*tshow of a vote on her watch as speaker."




Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American heathercoxrichardson@substack.com 
Unsubscribe

Jul 2, 2025, 11:17 PM (8 hours ago)
to me
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

The Senate's passage of its version of the budget reconciliation bill yesterday sent House members rushing back to Washington today to debate passing what the Senate had sent them. The bill is hugely unpopular. It cuts taxes for the wealthiest Americans and corporations and slashes Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, energy credits, and other programs that help the American people, while also pouring money into Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detention facilities for migrants.

While Democratic representatives are united against the measure, people from across the country are flooding lawmakers with calls and demonstrations against the bill in hopes of swaying Republicans. At the office of Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), hundreds of his constituents held a die-in to demonstrate how cuts to healthcare in the bill would affect them.

Far-right Republicans think the bill doesn't make steep enough cuts; Republicans from swing districts recognize that supporting it will badly hurt both their constituents and their hopes of reelection. But Trump has demanded Congress pass the measure before July 4, an arbitrary date he seems to have chosen because of its historical significance.

A new element in the Republicans' calculation emerged a few days ago as billionaire Elon Musk reentered the fight over the measure, warning he would start a new political party over it. He has threatened to run primary challengers against lawmakers who vote yes, a threat that is a counterweight to Trump's threat to run primary challengers against lawmakers who vote no. Already Musk has claimed to be donating to the reelection campaign of Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), an outspoken opponent of the bill.

Representative Sean Casten (D-IL) wrote today about the dysfunction on the House floor. "A functioning House leadership team would work the members, make changes as necessary and bring this bill to the floor once they knew they could pass it. But [speaker] Mike Johnson does not run a functional House leadership team. He does what Daddy says and Daddy said pass it before July 4." This morning, the House took a procedural vote, but recognizing that they did not have the votes to pass the bill itself, Republican leadership refused to close the vote.

Later, House leadership held another vote open for more than two hours when they could not win it. When Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO) challenged this trick, the chair told him that the rules established a minimum time for votes, but no maximum.

To find the votes Republicans need to pass the bill, Trump met today with those expected to vote no. Riley Rogerson and Reese Gorman of NOTUS reported that at a meeting with some of the swing-state Republican holdouts, Trump seemed to believe the lie that the bill doesn't cut Medicaid. Three sources told the reporters Trump told Republicans they shouldn't touch Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security if they want to win elections. "But we're touching Medicaid in this bill," one of the members at the meeting answered.

Trump also met with far-right members, but because the Senate measure must pass the House unchanged, he can offer them little except to promise they will fix the bill after it passes. While that appeared to work on at least one representative, Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN) told the NOTUS reporters: "Now we're having to once again hear the line, 'Let's pass this and then we'll fix it later,' And we never fix it later, and America knows that."

Political journalist Judd Legum of Popular Information posted: "To review: Trump spent all day rounding up votes for his mega bill[.] Trump did not round up enough votes[.] So the 'plan' was just to start voting and bully anyone who votes no until they switch their vote[.] (It could work.)"

Democrats called out Republicans from swing districts, listing the numbers of their constituents who will lose healthcare insurance if the measure passes. They urged Republicans to stand up to Donald Trump, and to stand up for their constituents.

Pennsylvania representative Fitzpatrick faced the die-in at his office and was also so angry at today's news Trump is withholding weapons already pledged to Ukraine that he wrote to Trump today, warning that Ukraine is "holding the line for the entire democratic world" and asking for an emergency briefing on the decision to withhold aid. He voted no on a key procedural vote tonight.

Just after 10:00 tonight, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melanie Zanona reported: "Republicans are trying [to] locate Rep[resentative] Brian Fitzpatrick, who delivered a surprising NO vote on the mega bill rule. Likely to try to flip him. I told a member I saw him bolt out of the chamber & leave the area. 'Smart,' the member said."

As of midnight, the Republicans did not have the votes to advance the measure.

Representative Maxwell Frost (D-FL) posted: "Speaker Johnson should just take the L on this vote. Most of America doesn't want this bill to pass anyways. It's…both the worst and most unpopular piece of legislation in modern history."

On Bluesky, user shauna wrote: "say what you will about [former Democratic House speaker] nancy pelosi (as one of her constituents believe me i have) she'd have impaled herself with a gavel live on the house floor before she'd have allowed this sh*tshow of a vote on her watch as speaker."




--
****
Juan Matute
The Harold Wilke House 
Claremont, California

Humpty Trumpty Shat on His Wall



Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Something to Know - 2 July

There is a very exciting and attention grabbing event going on in Washington D.C.   It looks and sounds like melodrama, or a tragic comedy, or a horror movie.  Depending on your point of view, this is the single-most Big Beautiful Bomb that has ever occurred under the dome of the Legislative branch.   The revised monster now goes back to the House where the drama will be either finalized or manhandled into a bill that has to be resent back to the Senate for approval.   This could evolve into a ping-pong match.   I'm not calling the shots on this game, but will there be enough public pushback to counter the avalanche of money that pours in from the rich to defeat the poor.  Nice to know that Musk says that he will primary every Republican who is running for office.   So, grab your munchies and watch the battle.   So what is Trump doing in the meantime?....well he is grifting and hawking a new line of fragrances.   The whole thing STINKS!  The story line for screenwriters are just begging for a movie to be made on all of this. 


Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American heathercoxrichardson@substack.com 

Jul 1, 2025, 11:33 PM (8 hours ago)
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Just after noon today, the Senate passed its version of the budget reconciliation bill. All Democrats and Independents voted no. Three Republicans—Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina—joined the Democrats in voting no. That left the bill at 50–50. Vice President J.D. Vance cast the deciding vote, pushing the measure through the Senate and sending it back to the House to vote on the changes made by the Senate.

From the reporters' gallery above the floor, CNN's Sarah Ferris heard Senator Angus King (I-ME) yell to his Republican colleagues: "Shame on you guys. That was the most disgusting vote I've ever seen in my life."

The measure cuts taxes for the wealthy and corporations and offsets those cuts in part by slashing Medicaid and food security programs for low-income Americans.

But there is at least one aspect of American life on which the bill is lavishing money. While the measure slashes public welfare programs, it pours $170.7 billion into immigration enforcement. The American Immigration Council broke out the numbers today: The Senate bill provides $51.6 billion to build a wall on the border, more than three times what Trump spent on the wall in his first term. It provides $45 billion for detention facilities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an increase of 265% in ICE's annual detention budget. It provides $29.9 billion for ICE enforcement, a threefold increase in ICE's annual budget.

When Trump talks about undocumented migrants as being dangerous criminals, he appears to have bought into the fantasy that the U.S. is a hellscape. In fact, about 8% of arrested migrants have been convicted of violent crimes. The administration defines anyone who breaks immigration law—which is a misdemeanor, not a felony—as a criminal. One of the reasons for the push to get the bill passed before July 4 is that the Department of Homeland Security has blown through its budget and needs the bill's additional funding to operate.

While the Senate considered the budget reconciliation bill today, President Donald J. Trump visited the new detention facility in the Florida Everglades designed to hold 5,000 undocumented immigrants. The facility will cost $450 million a year, which will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Florida attorney general who came up with the plan gave it the name "Alligator Alcatraz," a cutesy name for tents filled with cages for undocumented immigrants.

Standing in front of the cages with Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem laughing, Trump told reporters: "Biden wanted me in here…. It didn't work out that way, but he wanted me in here, that son of a bitch."

This is nonsense, but it reveals Trump's conviction that he is always a victim, his determination to destroy the rule of law that threatened to hold him accountable for his actions, and his own drive to imprison and destroy his political opponents.

It was exactly a year ago today, on July 1, 2024, that the United States Supreme Court decided Donald J. Trump v. United States. The court's majority overthrew the central premise of American democracy: that no one is above the law.

It decided that the president of the United States, possibly the most powerful person on earth, has "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution for crimes committed as part of the official acts at the core of presidential powers. The court also said it should be presumed that the president also has immunity for other official acts as well unless that prosecution would not intrude on the authority of the executive branch.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that a president needs such immunity to make sure the president is willing to take "bold and unhesitating action" and make unpopular decisions, although no previous president ever asserted that he was above the law or that he needed such immunity to fulfill his role. Roberts's decision didn't focus at all on the interest of the American people in guaranteeing that presidents carry out their duties within the guardrails of the law.

The Supreme Court had delayed issuing its decision in that case until the last possible moment, guaranteeing that Trump would not face trial in the two federal criminal cases pending against him, one charging him with willfully retaining national defense information by taking classified information with him when he left office, and the other for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

A year later, today provided a snapshot of what happens to a democracy when a president feels he can disregard the law.

Trump's Education Department announced today it is withholding $6.8 billion in funding for K–12 schools that, by law, was supposed to be disbursed starting today. By law, the executive branch must disburse appropriations Congress has passed, but Trump and his officers have simply ignored the law, saying they believe it is unconstitutional. The Constitution provides that Congress alone has the power to write laws and charges the president with taking "Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."

Yesterday, Trump announced new Trump fragrances, perfumes and colognes for which he has licensed the use of his name. They retail for hundreds of dollars per 3.3 ounce bottle. Today, Zach Everson of Forbes reported that Trump Media & Technology Group is testing an international rollout of its streaming platform. The chief executive officer of Trump Media, former Republican congress member Devin Nunes, said in a statement: "International viewers who want to get the other side of the story will soon have an easy opportunity to do so."

Everson points out that Trump has slashed Voice of America, the largest international broadcaster in the U.S., raising questions about whether Trump's business interests played a role in his decisions about the congressionally funded U.S. news source.

But it was at a press conference in Ochopee, Florida, today that Trump showed just how profoundly the immunity conferred on him a year ago is undermining democracy.

Trump continues to say he will arrest and deport U.S. citizens to third countries. On April 14, a microphone picked up Trump's comment to President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador that "homegrowns are next" after the undocumented immigrants Bukele was imprisoning for Trump. Today, Trump told reporters that "bad criminals" have migrated to the U.S., "but we also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time. People that whacked people over the head with a baseball bat from behind when they're not looking and kill them, people that knife you when you're walking down the street. They're not new to our country. They're old to our country. Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here, too. You want to know the truth? So maybe that'll be the next job that we'll work on together."

He is also continuing to push the idea of attacking his political opponents. Today, Trump called for an investigation into Alejandro Mayorkas, homeland security secretary under President Joe Biden. He also threatened to arrest the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, if he doesn't work with ICE agents to arrest migrants, although local and state governments have no legal obligation to work with federal immigration enforcement. Trump claimed—incorrectly—that Mamdani is a communist, and said that "a lot of people are saying he's here illegally." In fact, Mamdani is a naturalized citizen.

Today Alan Feuer and Adam Goldman of the New York Times reported that a former FBI agent, Jared Wise, who was charged with telling the January 6, 2021, rioters storming the Capitol to kill police officers, is working with the task force in the Justice Department set up as a way for President Trump to seek retribution against his political enemies.

Once a new system of detention facilities and ICE agents is established and the idea that a Republican president can legitimately attack his political opponents is accepted, a police state will be in place.

In answer to the question "How many more facilities like this do you feel that the country needs in order to enact your agenda of mass deportations?" Trump said today: "Well, I think we'd like to see them in many states, really, many states. This one, I know Ron's doing a second one, at least a second one, and probably a couple of more. And, you know, at some point, they might morph into a system where you're going to keep it for a long time."

Once that system is in place, it will not matter if Trump is able to do the work of the presidency. Today, a reporter from the Fox News Channel asked Trump about the new detention facility in the Everglades: "Mr. President, is there an expected time frame that detainees will spend here? Days, weeks, months?"

Trump answered: "In Florida? I'm going to spend a lot. Look, this is my home state. I love it, I love your government, I love all the people around. These are all friends of mine. They know very well. I mean, I'm not surprised that they do so well. They're great people. Ron has been a friend of mine for a long time. I feel very comfortable in the state. I'll spend a lot of time here. I want to, you know, for four years, I've got to be in Washington, and I'm okay with it because I love the White House. I even fixed up the little Oval Office, I make it—it's like a diamond, it's beautiful. It's so beautiful. It wasn't maintained properly, I will tell you that. But even when it wasn't, it was still the Oval Office, so it meant a lot. But I'll spend as much time as I can here. You know, my vacation is generally here, because it's convenient. I live in Palm Beach. It's my home. And I have a very nice little place, nice little cottage to stay at, right? But we have a lot of fun, and I'm a big contributor to Florida, you know, pay a lot of tax, and a lot of people moved from New York, and I don't know what New York is going to do. A lot of people moved to Florida from New York, and it was for a lot of reasons, but one of them was taxes. The taxes are so high in New York, they're leaving. I don't know what New York's going to do about that, because some of the biggest, wealthiest people, and some of the people that pay the most taxes of any people anywhere in the world, for that matter, they're moving to Florida and other places. So we're going to have to help some of these states out, I think. But thank you very much. I'll be here as much as I can. Very nice question."





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****
Juan Matute
The Harold Wilke House 
Claremont, California

Humpty Trumpty Shat on His Wall