@#22

Another song from the Purple Rain soundtrack ...

@#25

Please do not pollute this music-oriented thread with your phlegm.

thx.

OK, so, after Pres Trump's DOGE chain-saw cuts and whimsical tariffs apparently have pushed our allies away from us, Pres Trump now wants to spend money to try to woo those allies back?

More from the article ...

... The State Department is considering spending nearly half a billion dollars more on programs aimed at China throughout the Western Hemisphere, Africa and Asia, according to an internal State Department document obtained by AP.

"The United States must respond to the CCP's growing economic, technological, and diplomatic leverage around the world which undermines our national interests," the document says, using the acronym for the Chinese Communist Party. ...

@#10 ... "the man who is quick to borrow is always slow to pay." ...

Whoa.

So apropos.

thx.

@#7 ... it's still going to be a Band-Aid on a bigger wound ...

Yeah, Pres Trump seems to be all about proffering short term "solutions" to assuage the symptoms, and less about resolving the longer-tern cause of the problem (which he may have created).

@#6 ... Ask our farmers. ...

Good point.

But then there's this ...

@#3 ... This is the most ineffective Congress in history. They simply can't do anything. ...

Well, all they seem to be able to do is pass tax cuts for the uber-wealthy, contributing trillions to the Federal deficit a debt our children will eventually have to pay.

But passing things for American workers?

Well, I'd say your comment is on the right path.

@#15 ... It's a sad state of affairs when you can't trust the food in your grocery stores to not kill you. ...

Going one step up the chain of responsibility, it is a sad state of affairs when the Federal government apparently has significant issues assuring safe food for Americans.

Have we become a third-world country regarding our food supply?

@#1

More from the article ...

... In a statement released this week, New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person said "a robot built by a company associated with sex dolls has no business in our classrooms," emphasizing that robots -- no matter how "lifelike" -- are incapable of the human connection students require in order to thrive. ...

Yeah, I'd seen other reporting that indicated the female robot may have been, well, quite "healthy."

Oh no!

... and the approach by Pres Trump to resolve this budgetary problem?

Give more tax cuts to his uber-wealthy friends, possibly representing the largest increase to the Federal deficit of any President.

More from the article ...

... The United States government is shoveling money out the door at a breathtaking pace, well beyond the nation's means -- with a budget of $7.4 trillion for fiscal year 2026 against expected revenue of just $5.6 trillion. ...

@#4 ... Iran now knows ...

Pres Trump's war of choice against Iran has taught Iran a lot of things, most of which seem to be of a more long-term, strategic nature.

For starters, before Pres Trump's war of choice against Iran, the Strait of Hormuz had seen the passage of 130+ ships per day.

How many ships per day are passing this week?

@#19 ... Something in the air - Thunderclap Newman ...

A fav song of mine.

I did not know it was a soundtrack tune.

@#20 ... It is from a weird film called "The Body" and is called Give Birth To A Smile. Quite a departure ...

I have that soundtrack album. Likely because I was accumulating Pink Floyd soundtrack songs back in the day.

imo, Pres Trump seems to be using the "communist" attribution mainly to appeal to the older of his supporters. That is, those folk who remember the fight against communism that took place way back in the day.

Will the appeal to communism take hold with, let's say, Gen Z?

My guess is ... no.

So...

This "cease-fire" seems to be turning out like the earlier cease-fires?

@#1 ... USSS Special Agent Marquez Christopher Pinder held the title "Dean of Pledges" for the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL ...

There's this curious reporting in the cited article ...

... While Pinder was called "dean of pledges" in the arrest warrant, the university said he has no connection to the Coral Gables campus or that chapter of the fraternity.

"The agent, Marquez Christopher Pinder is in no way affiliated with the University of Miami or the University's undergraduate chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi," according to a university statement.

It wasn't immediately clear how or why the 29-year-old Pinder would have such intimate connections to a college fraternity. ...

So, why was he apparently in attendance of the brutal hazing?

@#6 ... The oligarch and pedophile party has billions on hand.

The Trump family have [stolen] billions from Americans. ...

And the Trump family still seems to be fighting on court to gain even more billions.

... aging infrastructure ...

Well, yeah.

The older cities in the US are going to have issues as their infrastructure ages.

Just look at the things sinking in Miami ...

Or another from the Vietnam era ...

@#7 ... America could, in effect, pull a "Vietnam"

Speaking of then Vietnam War and our military forces in the MidEast ...

@#10 ... Those little wooden birds in the Swiss clocks say it best...cuckoo...cuckoo... ...

While I may not necessarily disagree with that view, the main question that enters my mind is ...

The President of the United States is posting self-aggrandizing AI garbage on social media.

Let me say that once again ...

The President of the United States is posting self-aggrandizing AI garbage on social media.

OK, now, take a walk over to the MidEast and try to understand how those in control of Iran (nebulous, imo) may view the United States.

Should they take him seriously?

@#281 ... You serious? ...

Well, in #277, you stated...

... Frankly....if I were a single man who never married a woman, I would probably wish to marry a man. ...

Am I serious?

No.

But incredulous about the comment you posted, and asking questions?

Yes.

... I'm not wasting any time on you. ...

That seems to be the usual exit ramp of you when faced with your own posts.

Apparently ignoring the rest of #280 that asked ...

So, the question seems to be becoming, why are your religious beliefs, and only your religious beliefs, apropos in the realm of gay marriage?

More from the article ...

... A Virginia-based federal judge rejected Liberty University's motion to dismiss claims that it allowed digital advertising giants to access students' sensitive information, including grades and prayer requests.

"It is difficult to imagine information more personal and more sensitive than the details of a prayer request," Senior U.S. District Judge Norman Moon, a Bill Clinton appointee, said. "It is also conceivable that some people would wish to closely guard their grades from public view."

Arizona native Kyler Lyons sued his university after discovering a connection between the university's student portal and third parties, including Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Alphabet. Lyons accuses the university of transmitting his and a proposed class of other students' highly sensitive data he says includes prayer requests that students post anonymously for other students and faculty at the Baptist university to add to their prayer lists. ...

@#277 ... I'm not trying to prevent anyone from going that route. ...

Yet your comments continually seem to castigate those who choose to go that route.

For starters ...

... Frankly....if I were a single man who never married a woman, I would probably wish to marry a man. ...

So, your opinion seems to be that a man who wants to marry another man is only a person who never married a woman? Wow. Jus' friggin' wow.

... I wouldn't have a religious ceremony. ...

Even if the religion was supportive of such a marraige?

So, the question seems to be becoming, why are your religious beliefs, and only your religious beliefs, apropos in the realm of gay marriage?

Dyson spheres are an amazing concept.

@#5 ... His numbers have never been higher ...

Yup.

Just ask him.

How's this "deal" with Saudi Arabia been progressing of late?

Especially after the visit of PM Netanyahu to the White House today.

@#274 ... In my opinion, that is a mockery. ...

... and why should your opinion prevent Churches from preaching religion as they see it?

You seem to be making a narrow religious argument here, preventing those that disagree with it from getting married.

Pres Trump does not want immigrants to be using emergency rooms.

How long before ICE starts ~vetting~ anyone going into an emergency room for citizenship based upon the color of their skin?

SPCX stock price since the IPO...

@#35 ... All the torque you would ever need for towing. ...

yeah, but who might want to be seen driving one of those ooogly things?

@#15

One thing about the poll is that it surveyed "likely voters" and not "registered voters."

The transition from surveying "registered voters" to surveying "likely voters" usually occurs around this time in the summer.

Why might polls make that transition, well one reason might be that, as Labor Day approaches, voters are beginning to settle into their views and opinions going into November.

All that aside, imo, it's good that the cited poll has moved to "likely voters."

More from the article cited in @14 ...

... TPOR labels itself as a nonpartisan public opinion research group. It is directed by Democratic strategist Luke Warford.

The group surveyed 1,048 likely voters between July 15 and July 17, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points. Of those poll respondents, 53% voted for Donald Trump and 42% voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, making the sample only slightly bluer than the 2024 electorate, which favored Trump by a 14-point margin in Texas. Trump carried Texas by 5.6 percentage points in 2020, two years after the last midterm held during his presidency. ...

More from the article ...

... A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday rejected an effort by top Democrats to block President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to reshape the nation's election system by creating a national list of eligible voters and limiting mail-in voting.

The three-judge panel upheld U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols' May 28 decision denying a preliminary injunction after determining the Democratic National Committee and congressional leaders failed to show any imminent or irreparable harm, as neither the Department of Homeland Security or the U.S. Postal Service had yet acted.

U.S. Circuit Judges Patricia Millett, Robert Wilkins and Gregory Katsas -- two Barack Obama appointees and a Trump appointee, respectively -- wrote in a per curiam order that while there may be a "number of serious questions concerning the lawfulness of proposed actions if implemented," the court cannot rule until those actions occur.

"In addition, the executive order, which is itself not self-executing, directs the agencies to act only to the extent feasible and consistent with applicable law, including but not limited to the Privacy Act of 1974,' and so requires compliance with the very legal limitations about which plaintiffs are concerned," the panel wrote. "If the defendant agencies take steps to implement the executive order in a manner that violates federal law or the Constitution, plaintiffs can promptly seek relief, which the district court and this court can decide in as expeditious a manner as circumstances require." ...

@#1 ... Can you say, "Blue Wave"? ...

I am not there yet.

Why?

Because I also see the Red Seawall that seems to be aimed at restricting qualified voters from voting.

... Going into the 2026 midterm elections, the Democratic Party is in the red. ...

Likely because the Democrats are more focused upon American workers than the billionaire class that makes up the Trump Cabinet.

America workers are struggling to put food on the table to feed their children because of Pres Trump's whims.

... and ...