Still no peace deal yet with Iran, with each side blaming the other for the stalemate.
US boat strikes likely killed people 'not involved in narcotrafficking', Kaine says
We already knew that. It was a blatant war crime ordered by so-called "War Czar" Pete Hegseth who needs to be behind bars for the protection of the world.
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An appeal now from my friend Nina Shea:
Jul 24, 2026
National Review
Don’t Give Up on Jimmy Lai
Pastor Ezra Jin’s release is a reason to celebrate, but the US shouldn’t rest until Lai is freed.
At the China summit in May, President Donald Trump asked Chinese Communist Party Secretary General Xi Jinping to release prisoners of conscience pastor Ezra Jin and Jimmy Lai. Only one of them, Jin, the founding head of China’s large evangelical Zion Church, was subsequently freed.
Trump said Xi, who is also China’s president, told him it would be “tough” to free Lai, the independent press founder who is serving a 20-year sentence for pro-democracy advocacy in Hong Kong. Our president should recognize that under China’s communist party system, these cases are only as tough as Xi makes them. The two heads of state are to meet again in September, in Washington, giving the president another shot at freeing Lai.
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Here is the weather report from my friend in Arizona: Temperature: 112°F (High of 113°F expected today). Whew! Now for our own quite tolerable forecast here in Berkeley Springs: Mon
84°
61°
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Trump rejects his own DOJ’s finding blaming Reflecting Pool issues on shoddy renovation
The dispute arose after federal prosecutors filed a motion to drop criminal charges against David Hearn, a 67-year-old former Olympian who had been indicted for felony destruction of property. According to court filings from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, led by Jeanine Pirro, newly reviewed documents from the Department of the Interior revealed that the widespread damage was actually the result of a "rushed and flawed installation process" by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.
Donald Trump has vehemently disagreed with the findings of his own Justice Department. insisting "it was a pure case of VANDALISM." So don't even try to tell him otherwise.
GOP senators say they will back Blanche confirmation after he rescinds 'weaponization' fund
Some brakes need to now be put on Donald Trump while citizens and the world patiently endure until the expected relief of his retirement. (Yes, Trump voters, you did this to us all.)
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And here's another matter to be laid at Donald Trump's doorstep:
After the first children's deaths in the US from highly contagious measles in more than 2 decades, Trump's health czar RFK Jr. is now changing his tune, telling people to get their kids vaccinated against measles after all. I cannot believe that I once admired his father and even shook his father's hand when he was campaigning in California, right before his tragic assassination. John and Robert Kennedy were inspiring leaders, but RFK Jr. seems to be their polar opposite, a guy with really kooky ideas aligned with someone like Donald Trump. (Are John and Robert now tossing in their graves?)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a long history of public misstatements and activism questioning vaccine safety, after leading the anti-vaccine nonprofit Children's Health Defense. Though he denies being "anti-vaccine", he has asserted that "no vaccine is safe and effective" and has claimed that childhood vaccines are linked to autism, a claim debunked by medical science. The Kennedy name has bolstered his credentials.
Several Trump appointments have been seriously denounced or ridiculed, not only the appointment of RFK Jr., but also of War Czar Pete Hegseth, a man with very scanty military credentials. Hegseth is also the guy who proposed giving troops highly questionable testosterone supplements and who had authorized the murder of surrendering boaters in international waters, a clear and blatant war crime.
That whole trio of Trump, RFK Jr., and Hegseth is nothing but a gaggle of rank amateurs, quacks, and common criminals! Instead of helping, protecting, and uplifting the American people, they are harming us all with their kooky medical advice and war-criminal orders, hurting our international reputation as trusted world leaders. Now official American government spokespersons are no longer considered experts. Rather, their advice is now toxic! So just ignore them and do the exact opposite!
These guys can still do a lot of damage in the next few months until the blessed end of Trump's presidency. But what are Democrats doing to counteract them and to make sure that we have a Democratic president next time, preferably female? But maybe that's a bridge too far, just my own wishful thinking. So unfortunately Kamala (and Hillary before her) didn't quite make it. I'll take any Democrat, even a man, who can figure out how to win an election against Trump and Co. Donald Trump will go down in the history books as a completely bizarre political aberration, and one of our very worst presidents..
California's Gavin Newsom now seems to be the Democratic front runner. Kamala has said she's not done yet, but she's been completely MIA. Maybe she now prefers living her own private life.
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Airports, nursing homes and schools brace for disruption without Haitian workers
The Trump administration has ended humanitarian protections for Haitian workers, but Donald Trump is wrong if he thinks Americans will take the jobs that they have been doing. It's just not going to happen. Instead of a win/win situation, this is definitely another Trump lose/lose. Because of senile dementia, Trump seems to be unable to foresee the results of the decisions he is making, guided instead by wishful thinking and trust in his own misguided judgment. Cognitively, mentally, he is failing, but he still doesn't recognize his own glitches, even retroactively. (Nor are do all citizens and voters even recognize his glitches.)
You or I could actually do a better job of being president than Donald Trump. Does he have senile dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, or what? In any case, Trump is experiencing cognitive decline, a serious disruption of clear thinking, never mind that he once bragged about having "aced" the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). a rapid 10-minute, 30-point screening tool used by healthcare professionals to detect mild cognitive impairment and early signs of dementia. Apparently when he first took the test, Trump had answered all questions correctly, bragging loudly and repeatedly about it. It is really quite hard to actually "fail" that very simple test. (I "passed" it myself in minutes.) Here's a sample task: Clock Drawing: Draw a clock face with all numbers, setting the hands to read "ten past eleven."
We may notice that we ourselves are becoming more forgetful and try to compensate by writing reminders on a daily desk calendar. But Trump doesn't even do that because he thinks his memory is just about perfect. Yet he doesn't actually remember raping E. Jean Carroll, saying he had never even met her. None-the-less, he had to pay her $5 million which he still hopes to get back. Meanwhile, where is wife Melania? These days, she seems to be keeping rather busy elsewhere. Smart lady!
I have several good friends living in Bhutan where this monastery (see below) is located. Bhutanese friends have even visited me in Washington, DC, and had once wanted to become part of our country. But, now that Donald Trump is the US president, they've decided to just stay home. I correspond with many friends all over the world and it's been breath-taking how quickly Trump's presidency has tarnished the image of our country, no longer considered such a golden destination.
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Here are folks serving themselves from a vegetarian buffet offering plenty of variety.
I do eat shrimp, clams, tuna, and cooked fish. I don't imagine them as having a meaningful life even if left in the ocean, still likely to be eaten by predators as part of a continuous ecosystem or food chain. I never consume beef, pork, or lamb, no 4-legged animals. Back in DC, I once had a visitor who ate no animal products whatsoever, no milk, eggs, or cheese, so I gave her a small separate refrigerator for all her fruits, veggies, and juices to keep them from contamination from our other household foods. She was a ballet dancer, so had to consume quite a lot of plant-based foods just to maintain the energy needed to keep up on her toes.
