Trump Job Approval
| Pollsters wrong in 2024: | 42.0 / 55.1 | -13.0 |
| Pollsters right in 2024: | 46.2 / 51.0 | -4.8 |
 | GOP | DEM |
| Democrats +3 | 216 | 219 |
Trump Job Approval
| Pollsters wrong in 2024: | 42.0 / 55.1 | -13.0 |
| Pollsters right in 2024: | 46.2 / 51.0 | -4.8 |
| GOP | DEM |
| Democrats +3 | 216 | 219 |
The Hedgehog Report - Phoenix Edition 
81 responses to “Happy July 4th, you lucky bastards!”
I hit the lottery the day I was born in the U.S. With the exception of people like Jason, none of us did anything to earn our American citizenship. Be thankful for this day and every day.
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My apologies to Marv and GF. They also served in the military and earned their citizenship.
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Happy Fourth.
Even to people living near, or in, the Firth of Forth and the Forth of Firth.
I hear they drink a fifth on the Fourth?
Sally forth to celebrate and enjoy the Fourth.
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Walt – Your streak of celebrating independence from 1776 on is unbroken. Enjoy the day.
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Walt must celebrate a lot of independence days.
I am sure he remembers the Rebellion of Amyrtaeus in 335 BC when Egypt regained independence from Persia.
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I must admit that passing BBB has one additional benefit that goes way beyond the content of the bill.
The MSM and the Dems truly hate it.
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Big Beautiful Bill rivals The Great Society for dumbest name for legislation/program.
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Not sure I agree.
Its appropriate and it triggers the Dems.
Win-win.
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Twitchy has a compilation of some of the meltdowns.
https://twitchy.com/samj/2025/07/03/and-cue-the-big-beautiful-meltdowns-here-are-the-best-n2415176
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I think the worst bill name ever was the “The Inflation Reduction Act” where several trillion in government pork spending is called “inflation reduction”.
“The Affordable Care Act” is a close second.
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What could have been this July 4th…
KAMALA: When we think about, like these moments, where, we see things that are being taken, but also, let’s see it as m-, you know, nature pours a vacuum, so where’s – where there’s a vacancy, then, let’s fill it.”
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Biden claims a lot of European leaders, Democrats and Republicans want him to be more “engaged”.
Poor bastard is much farther gone than anyone thought…
“I’m getting calls. I’m not going to go into it, I can’t, from a number of European leaders asking me to get engaged,” Biden said. “I’m not, but I’m giving advice. Because things are different.”
“How can you just walk away?” Biden added. “You don’t see me out there publicly doing a lot of this. But I’m also dealing with a lot of Democrats and Republican colleagues, all of them, wanting to talk, not because they think I have the answer, just to bounce things off me. I’m seeing a lot of officeholders… I’m not looking for them. They asked to see me, I see them.”
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Not sure I agree
Well, there’s a shock. GFY
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I think Trump is beginning to understand Putin doesn’t want peace.
Big barrage of Russian missiles attacking Kiev, obviously targeting civilians.
Yesterday he said “we are giving Ukraine weapons, we just need to make sure we have enough for ourselves”.
I think there is a big positive in that statement.
He realizes the US has to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons.
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Supposedly the Putin phone call did not go well for Trump, as Putin told him that Trump was not needed as a middle man negotiator in ending the war between Ukraine and Russia.
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Half of me wants this guy to win so the Dems have to live with their decisions.
The other half doesn’t want NYC to become a complete hellhole.
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Trump said he thinks Putin has not interest in ending the war, which I could have told him six months ago when he took office.
Putin only understands one language: force.
In the end, Trump is going to have to resume weapons shipments to Ukraine, he pretty much already admitted it.
Yes, it will be couched in “preserving enough for the US” and “these are loans” etc. but as I predicted long ago, Trump is not going to let Ukraine be annexed by Russia on his watch.
Trump should have taken my suggestion, right off the bat told Putin either make a deal or I will arm Ukraine to the teeth with both offensive and defensive weapons. Putin would have understood that.
Instead, he tried the fuzzy “feel good”, “I have a good relationship”, blah blah blah, which only encouraged Putin.
Hopefully Trump learned his lesson here.
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@SenAdamSchiff
Going shopping for your 4th of July cookout today? Trump’s tariffs are making it a lot more expensive. From beer, to beef, to ice cream – prices are higher than ever. The American people deserve better.”
I hate to tell this moron that less than 10% of beef is imported, at least 80% of beer available is not subject to tariffs, and neither 99% of Ice cream.
Hops used in beer are usually imported, but it is a very small percentage of the production cost, maybe 2%.
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Putin knows that Trump is a moron regarding Ukraine. I knew that more than a year ago.
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Yeah, but now Trump knows that Putin knows that is a moron regarding Ukraine.
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Yeah, but now Trump knows that Putin knows that he is a moron regarding Ukraine.
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Putin knows that Trump is a moron regarding Ukraine. I knew that more than a year ago.
What Putin knows is he is winning this disastrous war with Ukraine as long as there is little intervention from countries like the US. Trump pausing shipments of weapons to Ukraine is empowering Putin to be even more aggressive. However, it’s also proving how weak Ukraine is in being able to defend itself without the U.S.’s aid. Putin, though, is well aware of Trump’s capability to decisively react to untoward actions, which makes their relationship more as a cage match between two leaders trying to out maneuver the other. IOW, Putin sees Trump as more of a worthy adversary, one who he respects but who he also wants to get the best of – hardly as a “moron.”
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Fluminense v Al Hilal has just kicked off.
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Spending like a nineties liberal and MAGA thinks it’s great.
The Invest America Act just cleared Congress—every U.S. child gets a $1K S&P 500 starter account at birth. 70M kids gaining a stake in America’s growth 💪🇺🇸 🚀Accounts go live 7/4/26, our nation’s 250th birthday, future-proofing prosperity!
Another type of government giveaway. The BBB will be a disaster to the spiraling federal deficit.
Bad Trump
You were warned…just incase I die.
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I told you Putin ain’t playing games. He wants control over Ukraine after losing it to the USA in the CIA coup.
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There are so many things Trump has done by EO that I am total agreement with.
But JD better win in 2028.
The Cabinet is killing it in so many ways. But it could easily swing back if the Woke Commie Dems prevail.
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He wants control over Ukraine”
LOL
Anybody with a brain knew that years ago.
Only the Putin toadies and sycophants like you were pretending it was “about the Donbas” or “NATO”.
GFY.
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Putin sees Trump as more of a worthy adversary, one who he respects”
Zzzzzz….
Alternate universe.
Putin is laughing his ass off at Trump’s silly notion he could just declare the war over.
He is playing Trump along for a chump.
Trump, however, might be waking up.
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Trump pausing shipments of weapons to Ukraine is empowering Putin to be even more aggressive.”
Ya thinks?
Everyone except the HHR Putin Brigade knew that would happen.
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Another type of government giveaway.”
Zzzzz….
It’s an investment in America. It represents the leading 500 companies with stocks on the exchange.
It’s not money thrown away never to be seen again, this is a real asset.
It’s an invitation to participate in a capitalist society.
I think it is a great idea.
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Bad Trump”
Poor JeffP
Still with terminal TDS.
Sad to be such a bitter loser.
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Spending like a nineties liberal and MAGA thinks it’s great.
Jeff I would be interested to see your plan on how to govern two polarized political parties, lower the deficit while cutting nothing the Dems and RINOs wouldn’t balk at, tanking any budget proposals because there aren’t 60 members of congress willing to get on board? Trump is placing all his political capital on a budgetary strategy depending on economical growth due to greater investment and more revenue from decreased taxation and tariff revenue. It remains to be seen if this will work or not. But the current composition and disposition of Congress created few avenues or options that can decrease our enormous debt.
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The only way to cut the deficit/debt was to leave the tax rate as is (unacceptable) AND cut spending.
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https://victorhanson.com/the-decline-and-fall-of-our-so-called-degreed-experts/
Below is an interesting comment shared following the above Hansen piece.
”TIONICO
I was never a regular watcher but I did come across Trump’s old TeeVee show, the “you’re fired” one a few times. It was a well done show with solid content. I remember being VERY impressed when, after the teams had completed their assignment, he would “take apart” the plan of the losers first, detailing where they went off, where their plan built for failure or low return, and so forth. It surprised me that he was genuinely trying to help the losing team learn where they went off and why. It was “free education time”. He seemed to hold himself to a very high standard of excellence and was encouraging others to do the same. Laely I have wondered if perhaps some of his current team are not “graduates” of his past work.
As I read about the details of the 25 minute flight into Iran and back out, I marvelled at the incredible accuracy and skill demonstrated by the crews. I was astounded to read how the first bomb landed in the tenring on that new concrete pad covering the vent hole, imploding the fresh mud and opening the shaft. Then the second one, fractions of a second behind, waltzed on through, straight down the tube, and exploded on the work floor far below. Trump, the man of excellence and who surrounded himself with like kind, and encouraged them all to a high standard, and together they all established an amazing new high standard of performance.”
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The only way to cut the deficit/debt was to leave the tax rate as is (unacceptable) AND cut spending.
….and how do you reasonably and realistically do that, with small majority margins to work with, as the minority always votes in lock-step to see your legislation fails?
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JeffP has TDS so bad he would advocate for a $4.3 trillion tax hike as long as it damages Trump.
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What JeffP doesn’t understand, or doesn’t want to, is that the choice was to have a $4.3 trillion tax hike and the consequences of that or raise the debt limit so you could keep the tax cut and hope the results grow the economy to at least offset some of that, while also allowing for $1.3 trillion in spending cuts to take effect.
Given the make up of the Congress, there were no other options.
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Trump was a complete a-hole on that show to the losers. All blame. No education.
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and how do you reasonably and realistically do that, with small majority margins to work with, as the minority always votes in lock-step to see your legislation fails?
Simple. Dems keep the taxes. Republicans force even bigger cuts. Vote might have been the same but as I said, the GOP wanted the cuts. Let’s be honest. With very few exceptions, the debt has grown for most of 249 years and will for the next 249 years. Only Walt will see the result.
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Bitter, I never watched the show. In fact I really knew nothing about Trump, nor cared to know, until he ran for president. However, your opinion of the show is obviously not what others felt about it, especially considering how long it ran.
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I have cases with people who get injured as waiters, waitresses, bartenders, etc. They try to increase their weekly wage by saying they receive so much in tips. I always remind them they are under oath and if their state and Federal tax returns match that figure. They admit they don’t. So I argue to the judge that the claimant is trying to benefit from tax fraud. Some judge agree. Some don’t.
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Some people like watching others getting yelled at and bullied. Trump tapped into that.
It’s the reason all of those Housewives of…work.
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It ran for a long time exactly because Trump was an a-hole to the losers.
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There wouldn’t be much of an entertainment industry if people didn’t want to watch other people being a-holes.
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And America’s most exclusive club is based on being an A-hole.
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I asked chatgpt and grok about the OBBB. It came up with about a 0.5% to .7% increase in inflation yearly because of it. Of course there will be increased growth as well though so it may cancel out or even be net positive on the whole.
Also the deflationary effect of AI may be greater than expected offsetting any spending regardless
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Didn’t Bunu used to pretend Trump was a Paulbot?
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I went to the beach today. Walking in sand with a cane is a bitch but I did not fall. I could only sit in a chair and not go near the ocean – can’t get IV line wet.
Watching fireworks on tv is like watching other people drink. You are glad they are having fun but it’s not as fun for you.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14877783/camp-girl-clinging-tree-texas-floods-death-toll.html
Tragic. At least God thought Trump’s life was more worthy of being saved.
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Hope everyone had a great 4th . Here’s is an excellent article by VDH summarizing the bankruptcy of our educated elite class –
https://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2025/07/04/the-decline-and-fall-of-our-so-called-degreed-experts-n2659917
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VDH is an expert in ancient military history and the classics (Greece, Rome, etc).
This sentence means that he, like unions and Democrats, opposes free trade policies-
They reminded us that free, rather than fair, trade alone ensured prosperity.
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Bill Kristol
The current leader who best epitomizes the spirit of the Declaration of Independence is Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”
Huh, no.
Zelensky is a great Ukrainian patriot and leader who has indeed kept most of Ukraine independent from the Russian invaders.
But he doesn’t epitomize the Declaration of Independence and its enduring results.
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That article by VDH conflates a lopics he knows little about to somehow arrive at the conclusion he wanted to arrive at.
His arguments against free trade and in favor of economic isolationism bring up the old tired “just negotiating” canard and the litany of talking points we have heard from the failed AFL-CIO agenda of the last 70 years.
Garbage.
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I wonder if the senator noticed gas prices? Of course not.
and hamburger, ice cream, and beer are largely not subjected to tariffs. Those are for thr most part generally produced here.
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I am sure The socialist son is upset with the ending of funding to planned parenthood.
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Maybe Trump is, too. He was a major donor for decades.
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The revenue produced by tariffs is paid by American consumers.
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Bitter wrote – The revenue produced by tariffs is paid by American consumers
—————-
Not necessarily, bitter. It depends on the profit margins, demand elasticity and a host of other factors if those tariffs are passed on to American consumers. For example, according to a recent Reuters article, Japanese automakers have eaten their tariffs and had not yet passed them on to American consumers. From the article – “Japanese car companies have largely absorbed the costs of U.S. tariffs on auto imports, as they aim to maintain competitive pricing in the American market and avoid burdening consumers with higher prices. According to reports, export prices of Japanese vehicles bound for the U.S. in May fell 20% year-on-year, indicating that automakers like Toyota and Honda are shouldering the tariff costs. This approach has been confirmed by Japanese Finance Ministry data, which showed a significant drop in the unit price of automobile exports to the U.S..”
Now, will they continue to absorb this cost? Time will tell, but no one knows that answer as of now. My hope is that they’ll cut a decent trade deal with Japan and we won’t ever feel the effects in connection with these Japanese autos.
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Not many Japanese made cars in the USA. Most are produced here. They will ultimately produce here (new plants/existing)
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what a difference. I wonder if Hunter found his crack in the wh?
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Not as many as in the past, Tina, but I wouldn’t call over $50 billion in annual Japanese car imports inconsequential. In any event, I chose the Japanese autos example only because I had that Reuters article in front of me.
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The revenue produced by tariffs is paid by American consumers.”
Exactly.
And the BS about the exporters “eating the tariffs”, “profit margins”, “elasticity”blah blah blah is intellectual dishonesty by idiot protectionists to somehow justify what cannot be justified.
The bottom line is that the tariff “revenue” is NEVER “revenue”, it is just a tax on importers which will be ultimately be paid by US consumers.
The examples given above somehow try to portray the Japanese as “absorbing costs of tariffs” is utter BS, in the end these tariffs will make Japanese cars less competitive, fewer will be sold, and the entire business chain geared to their transportation, marketing, advertising, storage, selling, etc. will be affected.
The ultimate goal here, which FLA 2025 in his rush to adulate Trump’s protectionist and isolationist trade wants to ignore, is to stifle international trade and commerce.
As such, Trump’s protectionist policies and his stupid tariffs and trade wars are a success.
By any other measure, they are an abject failure
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Bitterlaw
July 5, 2025 at 9:42 am
Maybe Trump is, too. He was a major donor for decades.”
Zinnnggggg……
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I wonder when FLA 2025 is going to propose that the Mexico border wall be extended to every coastline and border in the US, to ensure ZERO of those nasty imported products ever contaminate the American consumer and guarantee that American exports and imports go to a big fat zero.
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The ultimate goal here, which FLA 2025 in his rush to adulate Trump’s protectionist and isolationist trade wants to ignore, is to stifle international trade and commerce.
———
Nah, just providing sourced facts. You’re also wrong about the Japanese selling fewer cars as of now. According to the article, their sales volume is holding up but the margins have declined by the amount of the tariffs that they’ve eaten. Again, will this continue? Their profits still well exceed costs. Who knows how long that will last but so far the data clearly supports the fact that on the aggregate, importers are not materially passing on the tariffs that they’ve paid in connection with tariffed product. My bet is that the Japanese strike a trade deal before passing on these costs to American consumers, which in the end is probably the Trump administration strategy.
Pulling for Bayern over PSG. Hopefully as good as yesterdays games.
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Big News! I mowed my lawn today. A lawnmower is essentially a walker with a blade.
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I can walk with a cane.
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I’ll be impressed when you run a marathon.
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So would I since I never even ran a 5k. Never needed to run after high school gym class.
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Happy Belated 4th of July here, and thank you Jason and Walt and anyone else for your service. I am fortunate to be a veteran as well, and cherish my time in the Army.
Sad news here with the floods. My oldest went to Camp Mystic’s “Boys” side, camp Stewart for years, but this year decided not to go (THANK GOD – as this would have been his week). You can not imagine the devestation, and how much that river rose in a matter of 30 mins. The cabins where the campers were is quite a distance from the river, ( a good walk) and in minutes, they were taken out. They say a 27 foot wall of water came flooding down.
Here , especially in that area, there is no soil, just a thin layer above caliche rock so nothing soaks in…it just rushes downhill and down river.
We are waiting to hear about a lot of his classmates and hoping that they were taken to safety. Hard to believe 24 young girls could be gone…sad part is, they would have all been picked up on Friday, as that is turn around day, new campers for July on Saturday.
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So terrible for your son and everybody in the community.
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Glad your son is ok.
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Was at a Wah-Wah in Dover, PA today.
It was so new there were no cards up yet on the bulletin board.
Gas was an impressively low $3.09 a gallon. The pumps are so new it actually printed out a legible receipt.
I had the organic line caught humanely gutted tuna sandwich on 26-grain non GMO organic ciabatta, very good.
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Egg-cellent news…as of June 2, the egg surcharge is officially off the menu. Thanks for understanding!
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Fat moonbat says she will fight for food….
I am not betting against her.
https://x.com/iAnonPatriot/status/1941292159438897303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1941292159438897303%7Ctwgr%5E47d563740b01fbd6fb7c88ec4302ef6d349e136e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fbrettt%2F2025%2F07%2F05%2Fchubby-woman-is-ready-to-fight-doesnt-care-if-people-abuse-snap-benefits-n2415263
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News in Numbers80,300Number of jobs lost in California in 2024. Monthly estimates by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office had shown a net gain of more than 100,000 jobs from September to December, but those numbers have been revised down to zero based on new federal data.
June 25, 2025
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Nearly 80,000
Number of undocumented patients who were treated at Texas hospitals from December through February at a cost of $329 million …
July 3, 2025
95 percent
The share of fireworks sold in the U.S. that are made in China…
July 2, 2025
13
The number of states rejecting summer lunch funding from the federal government…
July 1, 2025
49%
The share of Minnesota voters who would prefer Democratic Gov. Tim Walz not run again…
June 30, 2025
$70.92
The cost for groceries to feed 10 people at a July 4 cookout this year …
June 37, 2025
2,700
The number of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees who will be working in Alexandria, Va…
June 26, 2025
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NT at 6:00 a.m.
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Vic,
Give your son an extra long hug tonight.
So sad about the TX flooding. Breaks my heart.
***********
“Happy Belated 4th of July here, and thank you Jason and Walt and anyone else for your service…”
Thank you for your service….but…
Despite getting numerous emails from this and that organization targeted to veterans, I never served in the U.S. military.
Came within an eyelash of enlisting in the Marines in very late August, 1968 after 4 years of college–instead of going back to finish my 9th and final semester of college (I was a double major–business and history–and also needed to do the teaching block and student teaching to get certified as a teacher). Had I gone back to the recruiters office for the 3rd time to sign the otherwise completed papers, volunteer for Vietnam, do basic training, then officer candidate school and then I would have been in a 2LT in Vietnam within a few months. I very probably would not have come home.
The gal I had been with for 7 months, who I was ga-ga over, and who led me to believe that she was going to marry me, chose instead to unceremoniously dump me on August 15, 1968 and go back to her previous hometown boyfriend (who she had broken up after being with him for 6 years in order to be with me). In May, she had graduated from Shepherd College and he had graduated from University of PA and they both went back home to their little WV town. In 1969, she married him. He went on to get his law degree.
Neither my ex, my parents, or anyone else knew what I had decided to do in my distraught and fragile psychological condition agt that time. I went down to the college the night before I was to sign the Marine papers to say my goodbyes to friends and frat brothers and tell them what I was gonna do. Four close friends/fraternity brothers spent 5 hours over many pitchers of beer and talked me out of it. So the next day I paid my tuition and enrolled for my 9th semester.
I am now happy that I married who, I did and not that college girlfriend.
************
But according to Jason and Bitter, I HAVE served admirably in the army of Alexander the Great, Roman army, the Egyptian army, was a veteran of the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, etc. etc. etc.
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