Did the cuts made in NOAA increase the deaths in Kerrville?

I really don’t know.  I’ve read claims that say that, but I have no proof.  I don’t know exactly where the cuts were made, what experts were cut, how the Weather Service was affected.

And I will tell you three other people who don’t know the answer to that question:  Elon Musk, Kristi Noem, and Donald Trump.  The cuts were made with no rationale, no careful analysis, no studies.  It was all a P.R. stunt with potentially dangerous consequences.  

Trump, of course, thinks NOAA is the guy who built the ark.  Musk will say those cuts didn’t have anything to do with the death toll to cover his ass for what his teenage minions did.  And Kristi Noem is too busy pretending to care and no doubt offering prayers while pushing ICE to separate more families.  Noem is also the one who bragged about taking funds from NOAA to help construct Alligator Auschwitz.  In the meantime, the death toll in Texas approaches 100.

Men no longer read novels

Do you belong to a book club?  If you do, chances are excellent that you are a woman.  Chances are good that all your book club members are also women.  My friend Marian said that was true of both book clubs to which she belonged.  According to a full page article in the Times last week, men commonly read novels in the past, but their habit of reading has died out.

Male authors also appealed to men.  Cormac McCarthy, John Updike, Philip Roth, John Cheever, to name a few, wrote novels featuring male characters.  Check out the new books section of the Palmerton Library, and you will find mostly women authors.  The male authors are there, but they are of the Clive Cussler/James Patterson/David Baldacci ilk, hardly serious or worth reading in any case.

I’m not sure if the lack of novel reading among men is even a problem.  They are probably reading their text messages.  Maybe that’s enough for most men.  They won’t even know what they are missing.

Becoming a gentleman

The term “gentleman” is not used much anymore.  When is the last time you heard someone say about a guy, “He’s a real gentleman”?

Richard Reeves in the June 2025 issue of The Sun writes about Wabash College, a private liberal arts college in Crawfordsville, Indiana.  The college has an honor code that includes what is called “the gentleman’s rule.”  Every year the incoming freshmen males attend a a meeting with the seniors where the seniors discuss what it means to be a gentleman in modern society.  Reeves said it does help to produces thoughtful “gentlemen.”

According to J.F. Roxburgh, the headmaster of the Stowe School, a private English boarding school, we need men who are “acceptable at a dance and invaluable in a shipwreck.”  I don’t do well with that definition–I never learned to dance and I am not a very good swimmer.  I do, however, understand what he means.

Too many men don’t know how to act civilly .  They are “bros,” acting like tough guys, unable to carry on a civil conversation.  

The best example I can give you is to contrast Barack Obama with Donald Trump.  Obama is a complete gentleman, able to score on the basketball court and able to address and relate to a group of parishioners whose place of worship was attacked.  

Men need to aspire to be like Obama and turn away from Trump.  If you are using Trump as your role model, you, sir, are no gentleman.

Independence Day

I’m sorry.  I just don’t feel like celebrating.  What George Washington and Thomas Paine and and Ben Franklin and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and the Boston Tea Party and Lafayette and the Green Mountain Boys snd the soldiers at Valley Forge fought for is under attack by an onslaught of greed and stupidity.  It feels to me like we are witnessing the end of the ideals and the wisdom of our forefathers.  All three branches of the government are in the control of charlatans.  The populace is full of MAGA clones who delight in cruelty and lack both empathy and support for democratic values.  To me it is more of a day of mourning than a day of celebration.  

Somehow we must rekindle that Spirit of ’76.  I’m not sure given the culture and climate in this country that is doable.  I know that I and many people around me will try.  The spark has not yet been extinguished.

Republican Congress members dance after passing the bill

There they were.  After passing a bill that will increase the deficit, take people off Medicare, take people off food assistance, end support for programs that will help to reduce climate change–and they were dancing and laughing.

 

I thought about the lines at the end of The Great Gatsby.  “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy–they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

I cannot think of a better summary.

The dollar is dropping

The U.S. currency has gone down more than 10% in the last six months when compared to the currencies of U.S. trading partners.  This is the worst start of the year since 1973, when Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard.

Initially the value of the dollar jumped after Trump’s election, but the silliness with the tariffs and the looming increase in the government debt have been major factors in the dollar’s drop.  When investors are concerned about future economic conditions, they look for a safe haven.  The U.S. is no longer the default save haven.  

Some info for this post was taken from Joe Rennison, “Dollar Has Worst Start To the Year Since 1973, New York Times, (2 July 2025), pp. B1, B4. 

Senators behaving badly

Everybody knows the bill that passed today in the Senate is a bad piece of legislation–a transfer of money from the bottom to the top, a disaster for health care, and provisions to speed up global warming.

Almost all of the Republican Senators voted for it anyway.  Some were too stupid to understand it.  I’m looking at you, Tommy Tuberville.  Some didn’t care.  I’m looking at you Sen. McCormick of PA.  Some are cynical.  Step up, Mitch McConnell.  Most were afraid of Trump’s wrath in the next election.  That’s probably the majority.  And then there was Lisa Murkowski, who knew the bill was bad, said the bill was bad, got a few baubles for Alaska, and proved once and for all that she has no integrity.

Rand Paul voted no, but for bad reasons.  Thom Tillis voted no and decided not to run again.  And Susan Collins, after disappointing us time after time, found the courage to vote no.  Thank you, Sen. Collins.