McConnell says there isn't much federal government can do about school shootings

DANVILLE
In 2018, at least 26 students have died in five school shootings in America. Two of those deaths came in a shooting at Marshall County High School in Kentucky.

On Tuesday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he doesn't think Congress can do much to address the issue.

“I don’t think at the federal level there’s much that we can do other than appropriate funds,” McConnell told a group of community leaders in Danville Tuesday.

https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article214224494.html

Surrender

Cheap Trick Live at Daryl's House

If I Ever Lose My Faith in You

Synchronicity II

From 2008 live performance in Tokyo Sting and the Police

So, I shopped for food for our 4th of July cookout yesterday

I normally am a very frugal person, but we do splurge a little bit on holiday dinners.

We don't eat red meat except on special occasions, and when we do, I buy grass fed beef. 2 lbs. grass fed ground beef for burgers. $8.99/lb. (I know it's cheaper at Aldi's, but my husband wasn't willing to go out of our way to get there).

He and I like salmon burgers. Store made salmon burgers $4 each. I looked at the frozen salmon, thinking that I could maybe make them myself for less, but the frozen salmon was $14/lb. No way. That's for wild-caught Alaskan. I won't eat farm raised.

I haven't made ice cream in my machine since last summer, and thought it might be nice to have some for dessert tomorrow. I needed 3 cups of heavy cream to make a batch. 1 qt. of heavy cream .... $8. wow.

Even the all-beef hot dogs (without nitrites) were $8 a package.

Anyone else getting grocery store sticker shock buying cookout food for tomorrow?

Creating policy by temper tantrum

and I think you could include willful ignorance, as well.

From Paul Krugman in the NYT.

"In one way, Donald Trump’s attack on our foreign trade partners resembles his attack on immigrants: in each case, the attack is framed as a response to evildoing that exists only in his imagination. No, there isn’t a wave of violent crime by immigrants, and MS-13 isn’t taking over American towns; no, the European Union doesn’t have “horrific” tariffs on U.S. products (the average tariff is only 3 percent).

In another way, however, the trade crisis is quite different from the humanitarian crisis at the border. Children ripped from their parents and put in cages can’t retaliate. Furious foreign governments, many of them U.S. allies that feel betrayed, can and will.

But all indications are that Trump and his advisers still don’t get it. They remain blithely ignorant about what they’re getting into...."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/02/opinion/trump-trade-war.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

The Effects of Medicaid Expansion

"When the Affordable Care Act first invited states to make more low-income people eligible for Medicaid, pretty much all the blue states said yes, but many red ones said no. Now, the Maine Legislature seems poised to overcome Gov. Paul LePage’s opposition to expanding the program. Just weeks ago, Virginia voted to expand Medicaid as well. They would join 32 states that have already expanded the program, and three others actively considering it.

But many are still arguing about whether the expansion actually provides adequate care for more Americans. Some believe it really doesn’t improve access to health care. Others believe that even if it does, it doesn’t improve the quality of that care.

Dozens of studies are starting to answer those questions, including a number in the June issue of the journal Health Affairs. Such studies can be useful to states that may want to jump into expansion, perhaps with their own conservative stamp. They may also prove useful to others that want to tinker with already existing programs to make things better in different areas."

***********

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/02/upshot/finally-some-answers-on-the-effects-of-medicaid-expansion.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_up_20180702&nl=upshot&nl_art=0&nlid=74838209emc%3Dedit_up_20180702&ref=headline&te=1

Privacy

Does "The Star Spangled Banner" belong in church?

"Patriotic church services this time of year were so common in the early republic that the Episcopal Church’s national convention in 1786 resolved that “the Fourth of July shall be observed by this church forever, as a day of Thanksgiving to almighty God for the inestimable blessings of Religious and Civil Liberty vouchsafed to the USA,” according to a book about the denomination.

Over the centuries, what it meant to celebrate July 4 in church has changed and been debated. In recent years, the debate has been especially heated, with Christians disagreeing strongly on whether conflating God and country is a right or a heresy."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/07/01/star-spangled-banner-in-church-sunday-christians-debating-god-and-country-anew/?utm_term=.198ac08bd69c

Trump Tariffs make it harder to build U.S. Infrastructure

"Since Trump announced the tariffs in March, prices have been rising for the American steel used to build bridges, reinforce concrete highways and lay the rails for mass transit systems. Though many of this summer’s big construction projects had locked in pre-tariff prices, concerns are mounting among contractors and some transportation officials that the tariffs could raise costs and delay work that is still in the planning stages.

Most federally funded transportation projects in the U.S. already are required by law to use U.S. steel. Tariffs are like taxes charged only on imported products. But because they make foreign steel more expensive, tariffs also allow U.S. steel producers to raise prices without being undercut by international competitors.

The price of U.S. hot-rolled coil steel, a bellwether product for the industry, is up about 40 percent since the start of this year due to a combination of Trump’s tariffs and strong economic demand, said Joe Innace, the metals content director in the Americas at S&P Global Platts."

more:

https://apnews.com/3a974a6109a949398f621af432c433ba/Trump's-own-tariffs-make-it-harder-to-rebuild-infrastructure

********It's like everything he touches he poisons.