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Friday, July 25, 2025

NPR reports that Trump will be toppled over the Epstein FILEs-gate (Remember Watergate?)

 It wasn't so much his doodling a picture

of female genitalia that brings him down 

as it will be the "Cover-Up"

where forces that attempted

to hide Nixon's corruption

spilled over into a vast

array of illegal activities

to keep legal and judicial

opening of plots - crimes

out into the public

acknowledgment.

npr.org/ trump-epstein-

files-politics-maga

Erika Hartley - WMU Archaeology Days 2025 at Fort St. Joseph site, Niles, Michigan

Southern Berrien County

St. Joseph River area near Fort Street

in vicinity of Niles, Michigan outskirts

city limits

The "Discover Archaeology in Action"

days this summer will be August 2 & 3

from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Free to the public.

The Archaeologist open house will also

include re-enactors of the colonial French

era (details in Press coverage at ABC TV

local affiliate) =

abc57.com/discover-archaeology-in-action-at-fort-st-joseph

Resurgence: Expanding

Trade in New France

posted at TV web platform 4 a.m. Wed. ahead

of first Saturday of August through Aug. 3, 2025

Thursday, July 24, 2025

July 2025 blog statistics

faithfor2008.blogspot.com   "Seeking Faith and Understanding" 

Visitors to the WEBsite / GOOGLE Blog

July 1, 2025     4,682 visits / views

July 2                  1684

July 3                  2906 visits/views

Independence Day   625

July 5               3,443

July 6               4,564

July 7               2,424

July 8               1,402

July 9                  750

July 10                941

July 11                488

July 12                463

July 13                424

July 14                414

July 15                 577

July 16                 245

July 17                 331

July 18                 455

July 19                 643

July 20                 430

July 21                  2,123

July 22                  1,969

July 23                  2,081

July 24                   4175

Total for the Month of JULY 2025 (1st - 31st) -- 38,246  visits

thus far in the mid-year Summer Month

Powell answers back figure-quoting POTUS 47 : I haven't heard that says Fed Chairman

Thursday July 24, 2025 before Trump leaves for tour

of 2 family Golf Courses near birthplace of Mother

MaryAnn McLeod of Scotland (emigrated 1940 to

U.S. seeking husband). . .

DISTRICT of COLUMBIA 

Jerome Powell

denies and debates the

VERACITY of figures being spouted by

Trump as they both wear hard hats for

walking tour of

FEDERAL RESERVE improvements /

construction

nytimes.com/live/2025/07/24/us/trump-federal-reserve-powell

Indirect talks -- Hamas & Israel govt. end - Thursday July 24

Israel and U.S. leave from Cease-fire

negotiations: HAMAS is alone with mediators

(Arab neighbors of both W. Bank and Gaza Strip)


No movement toward a 

Cease-fire &

Release of remaining 50

hostages still held in

Gaza -- see further

Reuters.com/ July 7, 2025

The Israeli delegation didn't have a sufficient

mandate to reach an agreement with remaining

HAMAS leaders / conferees.

[ Netanyahu and Trump-Vance will meet for

Oval Office "under the stage lights" meeting

now that world's attention remains on POTUS

Trump 2.0 who is announcing his Commerce - 

Treasury punishments for trade partner countries

who fail to meet next-stage compromises / "Deals"

favoring U.S. domination.

Entire Dept. of Justice [ Bondi, lieutenants, FBI heads ] all searching EPSTEIN files to satisfy MAGA

 EPSTEIN Files are now the immediate urgent

MUST FIND -- entire departments searching them

from earliest to just before Maxwell's trial and 20-yr.-convictions

nytimes.com/2025/07/24/us/politics/epstein-files-trump-bondi-justice-department-fbi.html

Chuck Mangione, trumpet player / composer "Feels So Good"

The two-time Grammy award winner died at

home Tues. July 22, 2025 at Rochester, NY

OBITUARY at AP NEWS article/

chuck-mangione-dies. . . He had retired in

2015 and reached the age of 84, having

released 30 jazz instrumental albums.

Birthday Parade - June 14, 2025 - Pentagon report to THE HILL : $30 million

the hill.com/policy/defense-5416554/army-military-parade-250th-anniversary/?tbref=hp

_____________________________________ 

Interview with POLITICO.com

with Senator Roger Wicker (Mississippi)

Thursday June 4, 2025

after learning from Army Secy. Dan Driscoll

in a budget meeting that the June 14 upcoming

Birthday Parade - Army turns

250 while POTUS Trump turns 79

will cost taxpayers

$25 - $40 million and possibly cause

$15 million damages to bridges and streets

in the District of Columbia

I would have recommended against the

parade; . . .we'll see

GOP-senators-question-cost-of-armys-parade-spectacle

Haredim : Israel's draft-dodging ultra-orthodox block entrance to Jerusalem

BREAKING NEWS (Thurs. July 24, 2025)

Protesters block entrance to Chords Bridge

entrance to city of Jerusalem : display sign

of defiance = Enlistment - Genocide /

DEATH before Conscription

jpost.com/israel-news/article-862021

__________________________________ 

Jerusalem Post (Israel media platform)

reports that

54,000 "ultra"-Orthodox

Jews eligible for military service

will be called up for actual service

by July 2026

jpost.com/israel-news/article-860157

This group contains 16.5 year-olds to

those in their 20s, ending up at 26-yr.-olds.

To catch draft dodgers, IDF and border

authorities will use airport check-ins, 

checkpoints, and other spontaneous checks

in areas where draft dodgers will be traveling

without officials searching through civilian areas.

Berrien Life 5K -- morning event, Berrien Springs MI (7/27/2025)

9 a.m. July 27, 2025

at Berrien Springs, Michigan

Family Walk / Fun Run at 10:30 a.m.

run.signup.com/

Includes food, music, Fun Fest

Trump versus Rupert Murdoch (July 2025)

Today (Thursday 24th July) -- WashingtonPost

coverage indicates that No ONE is safe from

Trump throwing you "under the bus" and assaulting

your nest-egg or vital business resources/savings

___________________________________________

POTUS 47 lawsuit against

Rupert Murdoch, owner

of the Wall Street Journal

will be heard by southern Florida

federal judge

Darrin Gayles.

see :

politico.com/news/2025/07/21/wall-street-lawsuit-judge-donald-trump-00465363

Monday July 21, 2025

Bridgman, Michigan : August 1 - 2, 2025

 August 1 : 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Eastern

Bridgman (Michigan) Public Library Friends

used Book Sale Friday

4460 Lake Street, Bridgman, IL (plenty of parking)

Second day includes $5 bag sale

Saturday August 2, 2025 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

all proceeds benefit the Bridgman Public Library

hardback and paperback, gently used

269 - 465 - 3663

bridgmanlibrary.com/calendar

Berrien County, MI USA

Trump denies Maryland's request for emergency help following July 2025 floods

 FEMA (under Kristi Noem and Dept.Homeland Security)

will NOT be helping the state of Maryland following

recent floods.

Its governor is Wes Moore (a Democratic political

party new governor in 1st term).

See further

washingtonpost.com/

July 23 - 24, 2025

Ghislaine Maxwell : Meeting Todd Blanche behind bars in Federal Prison : "Productive"

TODAY July 24

Todd Blanche, right-hand D of J prosecutor

and assistant for Pamela Jo Bondi, Trump's

Attorney (General) has released to the 

WASHINGTON POST that their meeting

with Ghislaine Maxwell was "Productive"

Details will be forthcoming 


ABC News is reporting that the

Dept. of Justice

is meeting with the

convicted sex trafficker

in her prison setting

THURSDAY, July 24, 2025

abcnews.go.com

Representing Pamela Jo Bondi

is her deputy,

Todd Blanche.

Niles, Michigan BURN Run Fundraiser July 25 - 27, 2025

Niles Burn Run 2025 (Annual)
Event Date/TimeFriday 7/25 Saturday, July 26 & Sunday 7/27/2025 
HostNiles Burn Run Inc
Event TypeBenefit - Charity   
Event DescriptionThe Niles Burn run is a 3-day event to benefit the Great Lakes Burn Camp

Saturday: Car / Bike Show
Friday: Live Music featuring PT & the Cruisers, &
Saturday live music by Katmandu (Bob Seger tribute band)
Sunday: Escorted Ride, kick stands up at noon - 50-mile course
LocationRiverfront Park - Niles, Michigan
Address                     
CityNiles
StateMICHIGAN
Zip49120

Greg Abbott, using special called session of TX Legislature to re-district / gerrymander state

CNN.com/2025/07/23/us/texas-flood-state-inquiry-begins

What is relevant and germane are topics such as:

flood warning systems,

emergency communications,

relief funding for victims

what is NOT relevant is 

redistricting the TEXAS

congressional districts

so as to eliminate "Blue"

areas of the MAGA - focused

state into an entirely

"RED" / Trump-Vance voting

gerrymandered part of the

50-states + voting regions

Kerr County, Kerrville, TX sheriff in crucial a.m. of July 4, 2025 -- Lethal flash flooding

CNN reporting of how a

Kerr County Emergency management

coordinator

W.B. "Dub" Thomas

was asleep before the

early a.m. LETHAL

flash flood event killed

at least 136 people

in hill country of TEXAS.

cnn.com/2025/07/23/us/texas-flood-state-inquiry-begins

posted 10 p.m. July 23, 2025

CNN Online

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

2026 American Sculpture Garden (250 individual statues - granite, marble, bronze)

Non-American celebrities

that Trump muses about honoring

and including in "his" Statue

Garden of _AMERICAN_ Heroes:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ingrid Bergman

Christopher Columbus

Alfred Hitchcock

his images are under strict licensing -- LLC -- see alfredhitchcock.com/licensing

Nikola Tesla

Alex Trebek (Ontario, Canada)

Hannah Arendt (France)

Albert Einstein (Germany)

Junipero Serra

Marquis de LaFayette

_______________________

UPDATE: July 9 Washington

POST online article:

likely not ready / open until

2029 -- Trump-Vance Omnibus

Bill pushed forward $40 million

funding after Biden-era Nat.

Endowment for Humanities grants

were essentially zeroed by POTUS

Trump 2.0

newsweek.com/donald-trump-national-garden-american-heroes-

independence-day-4th-july-big-beautiful-bill-2094645


Columbia University to pay Trump $200 million - July 24, 2025 announcement

coverage (Wed. July 23, 2025) by

NY TIMES Sharon Otterman

nyregion/columbia-trump-funding-deal.html

__________________________________________

UPDATE (Friday July 18)

NYTimes.com/2025/07/17/nyregion/

Columbia-trump-near-deal.html

_______________________________

Administrators at a major Ivy League

school, New York City, will settle/ negotiate a

fine payoff of $200 million

the Executive Branch that is holding their

grants and federal aid (FAFSA) and more

under threat and red-tape tie-up.

Columbia University.

Popeye and Olive Oyl 5K -- North Webster, IN (lakeside course)

 When:  Saturday July 26, 2025

Theme of the 16th Annual Dixie Day is

Popeye and Olive Oyl so

wear your favorite costume

for prizes.

This race is professionally

timed and prizes will be given

Pre-registration until 7/25 is $25

Day of $30.

Cut-off for online registration is

Saturday July 19, 2025.

Registration and bib pick-up is

6:45 day of at North Webster IN

Community Center.

Race starts at 8 a.m. EASTERN

Mary Ann McLeod -- her middle son is returning to her Scotland homeland - end of July, 2025

details -- 

ABCnews.go.com/international/WireStory/

trumps-trip-scotland-highlights-complex-relationship-

mothers-homeland-124023618

posted 12:25 a.m. Thursday

July 24, 2025 at ABC platform from

"Wire Story" written by Jill Lawless

of Associated Press

Palm Beach Post : partial guest list at Donald Trump (then- twice-divorced) wedding ceremony to 3rd wife MELANIA Knauss of Slovenia

 January 2005

Les Moonves and wife Julie Chen;

Bill & Hillary Clinton (then-senator from NY)

Barbara Walters

Mark Burnett & wife Roma Downey (actress)

Rudy Giuliani & then-wife Judy Nathan

Katie Couric

George H. Ross

Don King

Carolyn Kepcher and husband George

Simon Cowell

Heidi Klum

Billy Joel and then-wife Katie Lee Joel

Russell Simmons & Kimora Lee Simmons

Star Jones and husband Al Reynolds

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos

Paul Anka

Tony Bennett

Kathie Lee Gifford & husband Frank Gifford

Shaquille O'Neal

Bob Wright (NBC Prez) and wife Suzanne

Senator Al D'Amato & wife

Conrad Black (Newsp. owner) and wife

Marty Richards

4 Palm Beach town council members & wives

. . .Mohamed al-Fayed

Mort Zuckerman and Kathleen Friery

Deborah Norville and Karl Wellner

Gayle King

Tina Brown and husband Harold Evans

Chris Matthews (MSNBC)

Vic Damone and Rena Damone

Donna Summer

Mickey Arison

Jeannine Pirro

others expected were Anna Wintour, Oprah

Winfrey, Elton John, Joe Torre, Liza Minelli,

Robert Kraft,

Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger. . .

palmbeachpost.com/story/news/2025/07/23/epstein-trump-marla-maples-wedding-melania-florida

Bernice King

After the Executive Branch (FBI, CIA, D of J)

released the MLK Surveillance files over five+

decades,  his surviving daughter Rev.

Bernice King has called for the

Trump Executive Branch to

release the Epstein files.

The descendants of MLK had

begged the FBI not to release such

surveillance material but she as a

designated spokesperson for the

activists and religious-leadership

parts of the family asks Trump-Vance

to be equally forthright with the 

Epstein files (Grand Jury, before his

death in a jail cell, 2019).

July 23, 2025

Inspector General Steven Stebbins -- Yes, Hegseth shared "Secret" classified War Progress on Signal GroupChat

Breaking News

July 23, 2025

Yes, it is undisputed that

TRUMP-Vance Dept. Defense Hegseth

shared material which was classified "SECRET" on

Signal

washingtonpost.com/  July 23, 2025


UPDATE: April 15 m-o-r-e on Signal Chat

all of the ChatGPT group on Signal 

a commercial APP messages from/to

CIA chief John Ratcliffe have been deleted;

this despite the order from Judge James Boasberg

of Federal District Court to preserve such records

of communications.

________________________________________

The Pentagon's chief Counsel / Inspector

will investigate the use by Pete Hegseth

of the messaging APP "Signal" and consider

whether he has used the group chat to discuss

details of an air strikes against Houthi rebels

in Yemen last month.  The watchdog opened

the probe after request from leaders of the

Senate Armed Services committee.

Senators Roger Wicker, Jack Reed

Makary - FDA head since March 2025 - appoints former pharma. executive as CENTER for Drug_Research_Evaluation

July 23, 2025 (during Congressional recesses)

Dr. George Tidmarsh (previously cancer & pediatric

patients) will follow through on commitments made

by MAKARY (FDA Head) and RFK, Jr. (HHS Secy.)

AP News.com/article/fda-drugs-trump-makary-george-

tidmarsh- . . . 2025 July 23

__________________________________________

Martin Makary -- his chief Counsel appointed by

Trump on Tuesday March 11 resigned abruptly

Thursday March 13, 2025 -- this was heralded as

necessary by anti-Mifespristone Senator from

Missouri - Josh Hawley . . .

the hill dot-com (Friday March 14) -- Counsel was 

Hilary Perkins, formerly of

Biden-Harris administration at

Food & Drug (FDA)

she worked the opposite side of

a Supr. Court case against Erin

Hawley (Josh Hawley spouse).

She told NY Times his accusations

against her are false.

AP NEWS com

details how Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins 

University surgeon and researcher rose to

national attention by skewering the medical

establishment in books and papers -- now he

will become ascendant in the RFK, Jr. HHS

system of federal investigations and regulations

and system updates.

apnews.com/article/fda-trump-makary-vaccines-

ultraprocessed-foods-safety . . .

Books about Trump sells in the thousands of copies (NY TIMES Bestseller statistic-gathering)

 Michael Wolff's All or Nothing: How Trump recaptured America

since March 2025 has sold

11,000 copies / / / /

contrasting it to Bob Woodward's

Trump 1.0 term book

Rage which sold 

1.1 million copies in all formats

in 2020.

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Alina Habba - U.S. Senate confirmation

Senate will have to vote first in committee

then before entire 100-member body

__________________________________

wild night / Tuesday 22nd July 2025

evening as Pam Bondi, Trump's A.G. has fired

Desiree Leigh Grace

__________________________________

AP News New Jersey US - Attorney

office -- she is a goner -- new Prosecutor

named is DESIREE LEIGH GRACE

 - - Habba can go back to representing 

the litigant - defendant in his many lawsuits

(POTUS 47 Trump 2.0)

__________________________________

update on U.S. Attorney (NJ) office

decline in morale and left many

prosecutors seeking a way out

NYTimes.com/2025/07/20/nyregion/alina-habba-us-attorney-new-jersey.html

______________________________________________________

Alina Habba,

a loyal law school graduate

who has carried out the wish

of Trump 2.0 to use the Federal

JUSTICE Dept. to target his

enemies -- to a podcast, Ms.

Habba said, "We could turn

New Jersey red. . ." Her charges 

against the mayor of Newark,

arrested outside an immigrant

detention facility were dropped

and she faced a rare admonition

from a federal magistrate judge:

"Your job is NOT to secure 

convictions at all costs, NOR

to satisfy public clamor, NOR

to advance political agendas".

Before 2025 she had overseen

a small civil litigation firm.

_________________________

her term as an acting U.S. attorney

may end Tuesday 7/22/2025

if the state's district Court judges

rule or do not rule to grant an extension

Song of the Happy Shepherd

Poem by William Butler Yeats

second stanza:

Then nowise worship dusty deeds,

Nor seek, for this is also sooth,

To hunger fiercely after truths,

Lest all thy toiling only breeds

New dreams, new dreams: there

is no truth

Saving in thine own heart.  Seek, then,

No learning from the starry men,

Who follow with the optic glass

The whirring ways of stars that pass -

Seek, then, for this is also sooth,

No word of theirs - the cold star-bane

has cloven and rent their hearts in twain

And dead is all their human truth.

quoted in part in The Theory of Everything  (2014) feature film

by the character Jane at the "Cambridge May Ball" at an outdoors

fireworks celebratory scene . . .

A never-approved Movie with the oddest cast

 from Hollywood: The Oral History  (2022)

Director John Schlesinger :

Some executive reading scripts

suggested Elvis Presley would

be good for Midnight Cowboy 

if it was turned into a musical.

And someone at United Artists,

for whom I did the picture,

seriously said, "Make Ratzo

Sammy Davis, Jr. and you have 

a hit."  (page 532 top)

A.D. Murphy on Hollywood's tendency for repetition

From  Hollywood: The Oral History (2022)

If somebody hits with

a certain type of film,

then everyone wants to

make one on the not

unlikely assumption that 

"oh, I guess a lot of people

out there are interested in

seeing this. . ."

So everybody will make them.

And the public will go to see it,

until the public stops going

to see it.  But one thing that

doesn't change is that the

top ten films at any one time

do half of the available business

and all the rest are fighting for

the other half.

That is always true.

The public gravitates toward

the hits.  The hits are like

magnets.

Diahann Carroll

 There was a period in which some

studio movies were made that were

supposed to be about Black people.

Hurry Sundown!  I adore Otto

Preminger, the director, as a social

human being.  He has a great sense

of humor, and he's a fantastic host. . .

if you go to his home to have dinner,

you're going to have a great time. . .

Those films -- Carmen Jones

Porgy and Bess

Hurry Sundown. . .

when I was in Carmen Jones, they

gathered together an array of Black

stars, Belafonte, Dandridge, Brock

Peters. . .We all wanted to be in moving

pictures, so we made it.  We found out 

things hadn't changed a great deal for us.

Then Porgy and Bess and we all came out

and made fools of ourselves again. . .I

don't even know what to say about Hurry

Sundown what I know is that there's 

been a long, long time in Hollywood

where equity hasn't happened.  Maybe

it will.  Maybe.

[ from Hollywood: The Oral History (2022) ]

Carl Foreman remembers the 1952 era (the "Hollywood Blacklist" / 1st Amendment claimants)

 Hollywood: The Oral History  (2022)

From 1952, I found myself living

in England as a result of the 

Hollywood blacklist, and I got

by in one way or another and I

was always looking, since I was

surveying and so forth, and writing

under assumed names, or whatever, to 

avoid the blacklist.  Because the 

Blacklist followed people everywhere,

I felt inhibited about writing something

original.  That was one of the penalties

of being blacklisted. . .Every blacklisted

Hollywood writer went through a severe

period, a period when he or she could

not write.  Now some recovered from it,

and some never did recover from it.  Once

I was working on a screenplay and it was

just no good.  I had a conference with this

producer, very nice guy, very sympathetic,

and he said in a very terribly well-meaning

way "Look, why don't you forget all this

stuff?  Why don't you make peace with those

people over there?  Do what they want you

to do.  Name a few names.  Get yourself off

the blacklist, and get that weight off your

shoulder."

WHAT HE DIDN'T KNOW WAS. . .about

6 months before, they had pulled my passport.

And I wasn't telling that to anybody because

there was no point in spreading this around.

It was bad enough to have them (the State Dept.

in D.C.) do that, and I was suffering the

consequences of that, which meant that I

couldn't travel.  When we parted that night and

I went upstairs to bed, I literally didn't sleep

all night long.  I was awake constantly,

and I was scared.  I knew fear, real fear.

And I hadn't written a good scripts, either.

George Folsey remembers Hepburn in STATE_OF_THE_Union

I had to make a (screen) test cold of

Katharine Hepburn when she replaced

Claudette Colbert in The State of the Union.

A very charming, delightful person.  Just

wonderful.  During the time I'm making

the test, she said, "Now make me fat.

Make me Fat!"

She didn't want to be gaunt and thin, she

wanted to be nice and round and fat,  And

I said, "Miss Hepburn, I've been trying

to make myself fat for years."

She said, "Don't give a damn about you,

just make me fat!"  Talked like a rubber

band at you.   What a charming, delightful,

wonderful person she is.  And, of course, she

was an excellent person to photograph as

long as you, as she says, "Don't show my

chicken neck!"

FROM Hollywood: The Oral History  (2022)

Spencer Tracy

from Hollywood: The Oral History (2022)

fellow actor : Maximillian Schell (interviewed)

Spencer Tracy, was, for me, the

most professional actor I ever

met and the most human and

the best.  It's just that simple.

Although he had his tricks, too.

He had his cliche's, too, but they

were just so good and not yet used

by others that he could use them

over and over again.  He was aware

of them and he always had a certain

vanity, like every actor, but he was

so simple.  His whole life he conducted

so beautfully and so dignified; he was

just a great human being.  I think

the film camera captures the

personality of a human being and a

film actor much more than the theater.

. .  . Katharine Hepburn gave up

years of her life just to be with him, and

he was just a great human being.

Frank Capra

from HOLLYWOOD: THE ORAL HISTORY (2022)

"Film is a funny thing.  You can take

a series of five scenes, and there are

perhaps 25 ways you can put them

together.  But there's probably only one

way that makes any sense, and you've

got to find that one way.  It's almost

like music.  If you put the notes of

a piece of music together, you get

something wonderful, but if you take

those same notes and alter them a little

bit, you get dreck.  It's the same way

with scenes.  You get a chance to

compose in the cutting room.  A film

is made both on the set and in the

cutting room.  But if I didn't want

a shot I made on the set in the film,

I wouldn't have let that shot get into

the cutting room.  You can improve a film

in the cutting room, but you can't find

a great, great film on the table, because

you're only working with what you

brought in.  Never bring in anything

someone else could use to ruin your

picture!

Monday, July 21, 2025

Iran / Persia

July 2025

Iran's leaders turn to a new birth of

a fusion of Shi'ite identity and Irani

nationalism

NYTimes.com/2025/07/22/world/middleeast/

iran-nationalism-israel-us-attacks.html

Tuesday July 22 (online article - NY TIMES)

__________________________

UPDATE: July 18

Iran's Fordo Nuclear site was badly

damaged and potentially destroyed by

the 12 bunker-buster bombs the U.S.

military dropped on it June 2025 --

details in article (David Sanger, Julian

Barnes, Eric Schmitt)

NYTimes.com/2025/07/17/us/politics/iran-nuclear-sites.html


_________July 12, 2025__

Iran's foreign minister

Abbas Araghchi

said that his country would accept a resumption

of the nuclear talks as long as the U.S. agreed

it would not again use B-2 Stealth bombers with

megabombs and Cruise Missiles on nuclear

and missile sites.

See FURTHER: apnews.com/article/iran-us-nuclear-talks-

araghchi- . . .

Tehran, Iran 10:45 a.m. US. EASTERN time zone.

Billy Joel 2025 health complications from normal pressure hydrocephalus

Sunday july 20th - he discussed his health

and troubles from balance on a famous podcast.

___________________________________________

Pray for the singer - songwriter who has canceled his

Tour (May 24, 2025) and will seek treatment for

normal pressure

hydrocephalus

which has led him to problems

with hearing, vision, & balance.

He is 76 and a mainstream music

mainstay since the 1970s.

Charlton Heston

 Who is a Hollywood producer?  What do they do?

from Hollywood: the oral history (2022) p. 209

I think producers can do

their job in three general

ways.  There is the producer

who is a logistician, who deals

with the logistics of film, and

whose expertise has to do with

scheduled and the mechanics of

making a picture.  This, never

doubt it, is vital!  Then there

are producers who are promoters.

Arthur Jacobs was one of those.

So was Sam Bronston.  There are

many such.  Sam Spiegel is such

a producer, really!

Then there are producers whose

primary instincts are for some

of the creative aspects of film-

making.  Perhaps script, perhaps

cutting.  I would say Hal Wallis

was an example of that, a man

who knows a great deal about

editing and who feels that his

prime creative contribution is 

in the editing stage.  There are

producers who, like David O.

Selznick, said the producer is the

conductor of the orchestra and the

director is merely the first 

violinist!

Katharine Hepburn

 On a studio head she liked and who liked her:

anecdote in

Hollywood: The Oral History (2022)

Louis B. Mayer happened to

like me and I liked him.  We

were friends.  When you went

to Mr. Mayer you got an answer

. . . and you didn't have to go

to five thousand people to do

it either.  They are all a bunch

of nincompoops today compared

to him!  (PAGE 142).

Alfred Hitchcock -- commenting on Chaplin's narrative THE_PILGRIM

 transcribed by Jeanine Basinger & Sam Wasson

Hollywood: The Oral History (HarperCollins, 2022)

You can learn a lot from

watching Chaplin.  He

once made a short film

titled The Pilgrim. The

opening shot was the

outside of a prison gate.

A guard comes out and

pastes up a "WANTED"

notice with a picture of

Chaplin in prison stripes.

NEXT, cut to a very tall,

thin man, coming out of

a river, having had a 

swim, and he finds that

his clothes are missing;

all he can pick up is a

convict's uniform.  Next,

cut to a railroad station,

and walking toward the

camera is Charlie Chaplin 

dressed as a parson; his

pants are too long.  Three

pieces of film, and look

at the amount of story they

told!

Black Holes and the early universe

 from Leonard Mlodinow's memoir of

friendship and co-authoring popular works

on Science with 

PHYSICIST Stephen Hawking :

Both black holes and the

early universe fascinated

Stephen, and he made the

physics of those systems 

his main area of research.

His later discoveries regarding

the interplay between Einstein's

theory of general relativity

and quantum theory helped

launch the field now called

quantum gravity (pages 8 - 9).

Leonard Mlodinow

 a septuagenarian born in Chicago, IL

a CalTech physicist (Pasadena, CA)

he has transitioned from teaching Physics

now writes for the general public

sometimes has co-authored books with

noted physicist Stephen Hawking [The Grand Design]

also a screenwriter for sci-fi TV series [Star Trek: Next Generation]

Mark Twain: It is better to keep your mouth closed

American humorist / best-selling author

It is better to keep your

mouth closed and let

people think you are a fool

than to open it

and remove all doubt!

Most massive black hole merger ever -- captured in LVK Collaboration telescopes

 July 18, 2025 -- Earthsky dot-org reports that the

LVK Collaboration found the merger of massive

black holes each 100 - 140 times the sign of our

solar system's sun has created a

225-solar-mass black hole;

this phenomenon presents

a real challenge to our 

understanding of black

hole formation.

earthsky.org/space/biggest-black-hole-merger-breaks-the-universes-rules

posted July 2025

the merger is 225 times the size of our sun.

Judge Allison Burroughs made 1st ruling one month ago -- Judge has 2nd chance in court to stay Trump attempt to throttle Harvard

FURTHER UPDATE -- July 21 -- Judge Burroughs in

her courtroom will hear from Harvard's lawyers that

the Trump team of lawyers is attempting to curb

the +388-year-old American institution's

rights to free speech.

NY TIMES.com/ 2025/07/21/us/trump-administration-harvard-hearing.html

Pamela Bondi, Trump's A.G. at the D.ofJ. argues that 

the Trump-Vance administration has the clear authority

to halt research across the entire university departments.

After today's arguments, it is not clear when she will issue

her ruling.

_________________________________________

UPDATE: June 20 -- Yes, Judge Burroughs

rules in favor of Harvard's continuance to

admit international students.

NYTimes.com online BREAKING NEWS 4 p.m.

Friday June 20

______________________________________

Update: June 16, 2025

NPR is reporting that the Judge will delay until

Monday the 23rd of June.

NPR.org/2025/05/16/nx-s1-5432750/harvard-lawsuit-international-students-hearing

____________________________________________

Judge Allison Burroughs (Fed. District) -- insisted that

the Status Quo remain in place. . .

details on Kristi Noem revocation -- see ABC News.go.com

"Breaking News"

Thursday May 29, 2025

Harvard University attorneys will make their first in-person

arguments before a Boston, Mass. federal courtroom

Its strategy is to use the POTUS Trump's statements

as evidence that the government is on a political

crusade against the school.

At stake is the 70-year-old Harvard

tradition of admitting top students

from around the globe; a visa ban

would affect 7,000 students currently

enrolled and other incoming students

who had expected to enroll in summer

and fall.

_________________________________

On the Trump-Vance side,

Lawyers on the Dept. of Justice have not

yet submitted any written arguments on

the case.

_________________________________

Revoking a university's right to host

international students is an extraordinary

measure.  In court papers, Harvard has

maintained that the Trump-Vance lawyers/

legal complainants bypassed detailed 

procedures that might lead to a revocation.

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Justin Fulcher - aide to Fulcher - pushed out of Dept. Defense

At the center of two HEGSETH-unusual controversies

will be pushed out of the Pentagon - Hegseth D o D (Dept.

of Defense) - Cabinet Dept. of the Trump-Vance administration

Fulcher is the 6th top

aide of the former FOX NEWS

Weekend anchor, Pete Hegseth,

to be summarily forced out of

a job in the Pentagon/Trump

White House in the first 6 months

(since Inauguration 20/Jan./2025).

see WASHINGTON POST dot-com.

Melissa Hortman - how best to remember and memorialize her

 POLITICO today

Sunday July 20, 2025

updates other Americans about the

other state Legislatures struggles with 

the need to protect lawmakers from

those who might

Assassinate or Kidnap

political figures (like

Speaker of the Minn.

House Hortman or

Michigan Gov. Gretchen

Whitmer).

politico.com/2025/07/19/minnesota-assassination-

spurs-wave-of-state-bills-to-protected-officials-

00463300

Happy Birthday - signed Donald John Trump and more names to come

July 24, 2025 Wall Street Journal adds the names from the 

EPSTEIN Birthday scrapbook are:

William Jefferson Clinton

Leon Black (Wall Street billionaire)


pbs.org/News hour/politics/trump-mired-in-epstein-controversy-as-

wall-street-journal-reports-on-2003-letter

Thursday's disclosure - coupled with Trump-allies on Capitol

Hill - pushed POTUS 47 Trump 2.0 to reverse course and 

direct his Cabinet official / A.G. at his Dept. of Justice

to make documents in the Epstein Grand jury court "file"

public.

Friday July 18, 2025

Superman (Director James Gunn) - as of July 11 until July 20 = another $57 million

Jurassic World: Rebirth

opens July 2, 2025 (a Wednesday before Indep. Day USA)

$91.5 million opening on July 4-6, 2025; as of 7/11 $184.6 million

as of July 19 $259.3 million


Superman (2025) - DC comics

opens July 11, 2025 (Friday)

$122 million opening 48 hours (12:01 a.m. Friday

and all day Saturday sales in theaters)

on JULY 20, 2025 -- reported total box office in U.S. is $236 million

domestic and $406 million globally


Mission : Impossible - Final Reckoning

$122 million from May 23 - June 1, 2025

June 4: $125.1 million total reported to BOX OFFICE MOJO

Total up to $192.2 million by July 4, 2025 

by July 13 $193.9 million; by July 19 $195.1

Thunderbolts

$189.8 million from May 2 - July 1, 2025

June 4: total reported to BOX OFFICE MOJO = $182.3 million

as of July 19 -- $189.9 million in box office


Lilo & Stitch

$ 183 million from May 23 - 25, 2025

$ 63 million more for weekend of May 30 - June 1, 2025

$ +38 million for week June 2 , 3 , 4 plus another $32 million June 7-8

totaling $417 million since release; globally $772 million

Karate Kid : Legends

$21 million initial release

June 4: $21.6 million reported (BOX OFFICE MOJO)

up to $52.5 million by July 19

A Minecraft Movie

$418 million from April 4 - 30, May 1-22, 2025

$423.9 million by July 19, 2025

___________________________

How to Train Your Dragon

opening weekend June 15 - 16 sold $83.7 million

total gross

$160.4 million by June 22, 2025

$186.3 million total by June 29 (Sunday reported #)

$215.8 million July 4 reported statistic 

weekend from July 4 - 6 was additional $11 million

July 11 $239.8 million

Lonesome Rhodes ("A Face in the Crowd")

 Director Elia Kazan's film (1957)

about a manipulator who gets his

comeuppance :  actor Andy Griffith

plays a pompous entertainer whose

appeal to plain folks garners him

tremendous power, for a while. . .

see Maureen Dowd -- July 20 column

MAGA's New Target is . . . Donald John Trump

nytimes.com/2025/07/19/opinion/trump-maga-epstein-deep-state.html

Saturday, July 19, 2025

15 years of male bonding : Trump and Jeffrey Epstein (Birthday message and drawing in Epstein's album)

"Inside the Long Friendship between TRUMP &

EPSTEIN : for nearly 15 years the two men socialized

in Manhattan and Palm Beach, FL,

before a falling out that preceded 

Epstein's first arrest for sex crimes

COVERAGE by Alan Feuer & Matthew

Goldstein 

nytimes.com/2025/07/19/us/politics/inside-trump-epstein-friendship.html

_________________________________________________

July 24, 2025

Executors of Jeffrey Epstein estate = his longtime lawyer and

former personal accountant have the

BIRTHDAY greetings album with words & drawing from

his Palm Beach,FL friend

Donald John Trump.

Assassin (in pre-trial detention July 2025) bears crime of exploitation as well

By posing as a Minnesota Law Enforcement

Police officer,

the Assassin of the Hortman family

exploited the trust our uniforms are meant

to represent, said Commissioner Bob Jacobson.

That betrayal was deeply

disturbing to those of us

who wear the badge with

honor and respectability.

see further

nytimes.com/2025/06/16/us/police-impersonation.html

Candle Memorial Vigil of Hortman family : musicians in Minneapolis - no sign-carrying permitted

 Rest in Strength

former House Speaker

Melissa Hortman

Mark Hortman (spouse)

Those leading the service were:

Brass Quintet : Minnesota Orchestra

Native American Drum Circle

Unison singing of "Amazing Grace"

Earlier Wed. 18 June 2025

U. of Minnesota President Rebecca 

Cunningham spoke at a separate 

outdoor memorial service;

the Hortmans were themselves alumna

and alumnus of the Big Ten 

University.


Biography of right-wing MAGA conspiracy theorist Assassin (husband, father of 5)

 Periods of religious zealotry,

unsettled professional careers

stops and starts in Food Service

and Funeral Home errand-running

[ his "hit list" included Democratic pol.

party officials, also health care staff,

public servants, all told 40 individuals ]

TEAM Coverage by

Dan Berry, Ernesto Londonyo,

and Ruth Graham (Religion writer)

2025/07/19/us/Minnesota/ _assassin First Name, Surname_

Do NOT remember the name of this Assassin

of Green Isle, [ who was apprehended there in the largest

Minnesota man-hunt ever the June evening / sunset

that ended Father's Day]

MN nor blame the children he and 

his wife home-schooled

[ the night of his lethal rampage, he sent a message to them

via social media : "Dad went to war last night" ]

but instead memorialize the public servants he killed and 

injured : John Hoffman and spouse; 

Melissa Hortman, a gifted

and outgoing public servant

and her spouse.

The assassin's wife maintains

in her email response to such

journalistic background requests:

the bloodshed was a "betrayal."

His spray of automatic rifle

gunfire also injured some and

led to lethal injuries for the

Hortman's golden retriever.

[ in court room comments and in exchanges with

the press / media, he has never confirmed nor denied

that he is responsible for his actions - plotting - gunfire ]

Swiss Days, Berne, Indiana

Details at findarace.com/us/events/first-bank-of-berne-swiss-days-race 

For 2025 the

First Bank of Berne

Swiss Days 5k Race

will be 

July 26, 2025

as part of a three-day "Willkommen"

event that is part of a 50-year

celebration of Swiss Heritage.

Food Crafts Authentic Swiss costumes

8:15 a.m. Eastern

choose between 5k and 1-mile

(those age 11 and under)

$22.20

Friday, July 18, 2025

Trump vs. Bob Woodward : judge rules interviewee has no "copyright" to book's support audio

2020 Book of famed journalist 

Bob Woodward of the

Washington Post

is not part of case law

where what Trump (then

POTUS 45) said in phone

conversations would be 

claimable to his part of

19 interviews granted to

Mr. Woodward.

Rage is the 2020 book

which concerned the

year of COVID-19 and

the scramble for the

White House that led

to the attempted insurrection

January 6 -- attack on Capitol

where the Election results were

being cast and finalized.

the Hill dot-com/ July 18, 2025

trumps-long-stalled-suit-against-

woodward-dismissed

Netanyahu's report to POPE Leo XIV that he had bombed a church, killing 3

 ABC NEWS online

reports that the Vatican

received a phone call from the

Prime Minister of Israel,

Benjamin Netanyahu, currently

on trial at Tel Aviv on Corruption Charges,

confirming that he had bombed a church,

killing a church janitor as well as 84-yr.-old

and 71-yr.-old senior citizens in the vicinity.

The readout / report from the call to the

American/Peruvian Papal offices (now on

Summer vacation) omitted whether

the secular leader also promised an offer

to treat the injured Parish Priest of Holy

Family Church (R. Catholic) Gabriel

Romanelli or other injured Roman Catholic

parishioners.  The ABC coverage also

didn't contain whether Leo threatened to

be harsher next time if the local Priest or

other church officials were hurt in more

severe injuries.

__________________________________

J Post dot-com is reporting that Netanyahu

is out for food poisoning -- three days

recovery needed while he rests at home.

jpost.com/   Sunday July 20, 2025

After-school program (Federally Funded) to receive formerly "frozen" funding

$1.3 billion in frozen fund

for Federal after-school programming

was thawed today July 18 (Friday), 2025.

Twenty-four states had objected in a lawsuit

for the Trump-Vance withholding of already

appropriated budgeted funds for such

after-school and other services in educational

institutions.

The funds were authorized by vote of Congress

in March but frozen by Trump-Vance as of June 1.

Gen Z stare to elder generations : NBC News piece on the vacant stare

 THEORY: because they fear anything they

say or do could end up being mocked online

-or-

they fear being "cringe" a term used to 

describe other older generations that came before them. . .


DUE to: being online and constantly using

social media platforms / staring at their phones . . .

nbcnews.com/

pop-culture/pop-culture-news/gen-z-stare-explainer-

rcna219262

NODE outdoor music Thursday First Night music act / duo also Friday, Saturday (Niles, Michigan)

NODE

Niles, Michigan 49120 -- 2nd Street at Main

downtown area for bands / outdoor gathering/socializing

Music acts Thursday July 17 2025

DREW STOLZ & Priscilla Sab

Friday July 18th : 

The Erly

6 - 9p.m.

Saturday line-up :

Urban Co. Market 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Hank Nelson 5 - 6:15 PM.

Touch of Texas 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.

Hey Annie (local band) starts

8 p.m. Eastern - - Sat. 19th July

____________________________

July 11 - 13, 2025 at

Riverfront Park, 1st and Front Streets

Niles MI 49120 nilesjesusfest.com

Niles Jesus Fest dot-com

PROGRAM includes

PScott & the Prairie Dogs

David Wall Band

Apostle Dre Love and the I Care Band

DJ John Bon Jovia

The Hillsiders (Gospel music)

Char Villa

Backwater Revival

Bowker Vow Renewal

Ain't No Blues

Fresh Cut Bluegrass (Bluegrass music)

Billy Shelton and the Golden Tones

(Sunday night 6 - 8 p.m. Closing of entire

four-day JESUS FEST).

Ephesians 5:30

Textual witnesses vary and as a result Renaissance-Reformation

era translations and modern revision of such (NKJV) include the

entire version of Paul's sentence in the Greek language (glossed):

We are members of His Body

and of His Flesh and of His Bones

Trump & the Unabomber

 Without corroborating evidence,

Trump in a moment of utter fiction

claims to reporters that his uncle, an MIT

professor of electrical engineering [ who had 1

Ph.D. ] taught the Unabomber.

Unfortunately for fans of Trump and his

"stable genius" characterization,

Ted Kaczynski never attended MIT.

He was a math prodigy who earned

degrees at Harvard & U. of Michigan

before becoming a recluse and 

who went uncaptured for 17 years.

see further

abcnews.go.com

A kind of pagan or heathen figure

TODAY (July 19, Saturday)

Ross Douthat : Julie K. Brown interview "What remains

to be revealed about Epstein's 2nd arrest in 2019 for sex

crimes, about what the govt. COULD release but hasn't,

and how the story is bigger than Epstein.

NYTimes.com/2025/07/19/opinion/interesting-times-julie-k-brown-epstein.html

______________________________________________

Ross Douthat focused on Faith / Religion / Conservative Politics /

Philosophy / Political movements & 21st Century / History

NY TIMES columnist / acclaimed author

OPINION PAGE:

. . .I think of Trump as, persistently,

a kind of pagan or heathen figure,

much more than he is a Christian

figure.  Not withstanding the attempts

to claim him as a kind of King David

or Emperor Constantine.  .  . The

bargain for religious conservatives

with Trump is for protection and support.

A transactional bargain.  . .Particular

steps Trump-Vance administration has

taken are anti-Christian. . .the way in

which the foreign aid programs were

reshuffled and cut off was a failure of

Christian duty. . .

April 25 column / op-ed / 2025

Stephen Colbert contract to expire May 2026 - CBS-Paramount will end the "LATE SHOW" most-watched talk show hour

HIS Next talk show is 11:35 p.m. Eastern time

MONDAY 7/21/2025 

Surprise announcement

Thursday July 17, 2025

11:35 p.m. Eastern Time Zone

details:

nytimes.com/2025/07/17/business/stephen-colbert-late-show-ending.html


afterthought -- Trump as quoted in the WASHINGTON POST dot-com

says : I absolutely love that Colbert got fired

Friday evening 18 July 2025

Happy Birthday message

Trump has "in common" with Epstein

rolling stone.com/politics/politics/news/Trump-denies-birthday-letter-drawing-1235388615

__________________________________

Louis DeJoy

the former Logistics / Transportation magnate

who served the Trump-Pence administration

appointed June 20, 2020 (height of COVID-19)

and then continued in office during Biden-Harris

four years has announced his resignation

March 24, 2025.

The Post Office will soon be subject to lay-offs

and firings as well as budget cuts and program

cessation.

Farewell POSTMASTER #75 since before

1776 and the independent founding of the 

Constitutional republic that is the USA.

(First postmaster in 1775 was Ben Franklin

of Philadelphia, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania).

House of Reprs. vote on "Epstein Client List" / files from Pamela Jo Bondi

07/17/us/politics/epstein-files-house-republicans-vote.html

________________________________________________

AXIOS is reporting that the Jeffrey Epstein inquest documents

July 7 (after federal holiday 2025 - Monday at month's start)

now "pushed" by Kash Patel (currently FBI Director) and Dan

Bongino (podcaster but now Deputy Director of FBI)

declare that no one

will be charged in the Epstein sex activity/crimes and his

death in a Manhattan, NY Prison.

Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year-prison term

for child-sex-trafficking and related offenses.

Investigators and those pushing for a full investigation

(such as DoJ Pam Bondi, attorney general of the U.S.)

found no "client list" and no evidence that could 

predicate further charges against uncharged third parties.

axios.com/  July 7, 2025

jeffrey-epstein-suicide-client-list-trump-administration

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Do female Israelis serve in IDF / Army? What do they endure / experience?

Yes -- here's a 

Jerusalem Post feature

about two typical

women finding their

place in a fighting unit:

jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-860602

An IDF tank hit with a shell the Holy Family R. Catholic church -- no one denies this happened

 POLITICO.com

"Israel apologizes for Deadly Attack"

that killed 3 including church janitor

July 17, 2025

reporting is Seb Starcevic

6 p.m. Eastern USA Time

Roman Catholic parish priest, Gaza City, Gabriel Romanelli - injured also 3 deaths at church grounds

July 17, 2025

Three killed in Israeli missile strike

on Roman Catholic church,

Holy Family, Thursday July 17,

2025: Janitor Saad Salameh; 84-yr.-old

woman Fumayya Ayyad.

Also confirmed dead was 71-yr.old

Najwa Aba Daoud.

The Vatican confirmed to media that:

Local priest and several others

injured in strike by IDF.

ABC .com posted photography of him

receiving treatment for leg injuries;

the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV

prays for the consolation of those

fatally injured and renews his call

for an immediate cease-fire.

Tim Walberg - holding House Education Cmte. hearings on Antisemitism - grilling College administrators

What is the House Committee

on Education & the Workforce?

it demands that colleges & universities

testify before them at hearings --

grilling administrators on how

antisemitism flares on progressive

campus culture across the USA

Chair is a Michigan GOP longtime

representative from the Jackson, MI

area:

Tim Walberg

details at 

NY Times dot-com/ 2025 /07/17/

what is the house committee that is questioning

college leaders.html 

Trump Cabinet officials visited long-shuttered Alcatraz Prison - July 17, 2025

UPDATE: Doug Burglum (former North Dakota Gov.

and billionaire) now Trump's Secy. of Interior

was on a tour to explore how to transform the

historic prison - island in San Francisco bay

into a detention site following Trump's social

media musings.

NYTimes/com/2025/07/17/us/Alcatraz-prison-trump-bondi-burgum-visit.html

____________________________

Attorney General Pamela Jo Bondi

Trump's Dept. of Justice liaison

will visit

July 17, 2025

see reports from ABC News dot-go dot-com

____________________

Border czar Tom Homan 

has no idea

what it would cost to re-open

Alcatraz.  At D.C.

press conference

5/5/2025

Riverfest 2025 (Niles, Michigan)

 July 31 - August 3, 2025

Four days of free live music

Riverfront Park, Front street, Niles, MI Downtown near main streets

uncoverniles.com/

Free Admission :

Carnival and booths are open Thursday 4 p.m. Eastern

until Sunday Aug. 3 at 3:30 p.m.

Arts & Crafts

TV Drama given "Default" Cancellation

From the Fall 2024 - Spring 2025 season

line-up of ABC dramas, the nautical soap opera

Doctor Odyssey

that starred Joshua Jackson &

Don Johnson 

has sunk.  It will not return for

a 2nd season as the cast's contracts

expired

June 30, 2025

without the network starting

to pay the cast or crew July 1

forward.  It was a Ryan Murphy

"procedural" featuring medical

surgeries / interventions weekly.

Speaker Mike Johnson puts "pause" on voting for 8+ hours -- setting rules for vote on CRYPTO legislation

see THE HILL

coverage of the more than 8 hour pause on the floor of the

House of Representatives

apparently needed to clear procedural hurdle

at last getting 

217 - 212 victory for House Republican MAGA forces

as instructed by White House whips and legislative liaisons

thehill.com/homenews/house/5404233-house-gop-crypto-bills-rule/

Wed. July 17, 2025

another History-making day for the Legislative Branch of our

Constitutional government (see Article I of U.S. Constitution,

dating back to 1789).

Syria steps back from war over Druze community and Israel's missile strikes Wed.

CNN Reports (Friday July 18, 2025)

that Israel and Syria have agreed to a Cease-Fire

_____________________________________

BBC continues this story

Syrian Leader al-Sharaa vows to protect Druze

after sectarian violence prompts Israeli strikes. . .

BBC.com/news/article/cg5z3jqe73o

_____________________________________

 Thursday July 17 Middle East Time Zone

reported in NBC NEWS Platform 4:35 a.m.

Eastern U.S. Time

Ahmed al-Sharaa, interim President

of Syria after his dissident / armed

group overthrew the vicious Russia-

backed Bashar al-Assad dynasty-regime

earlier this year said that

he promised to protect the rights and freedom of Syria's

Druze community -- and avoid an open war with Israel

middle-east/syria-sharaa-vows-protect-druze-israeli-strikes-sectarian-violence

Only 2

Women GOP hold-out votes (2) were the only

defections for the Senate Majority leadership

jamming through the Rescission bill depriving

NPR - PBS of its already appropriated earlier

$1.1 billion of funds promised to CPB

as well as Foreign Aid of $8 billion.

The last such RESCISSION bill was in 1999,

during the Clinton-Gore second term.

In order to gain near unanimity, the leadership

(John Thune of South Dakota) agreed to

strip out a line item of $400 million for

PEPFAR (a Bush-Cheney era program to stop

Global AIDS spread) -- it is unclear for how many

Republican U.S. Senators this mattered.

Also shielded were massive funding for Jordan

and Egypt, allies of Israel, another major concern

of the Trump-Vance administration, in these days 

of bombing strikes that returned to Damascus, Syria

as well as early summer massive devastation to

Teheran, Iran and other Iranian military and nuclear

sites.

IN FURTHER UPDATES: members of both

parties must meet a Sept. 30, 2025 shutdown

deadline or else the entire government will

lack funds for basic services such as the National

Parks and civilian workers in Federal branch

offices both in D.C. and in satellite locations.

This is the first "Shutdown" test that the 

bipartisan appropriations funding will face

since the Capitol Rotunda inauguration swearing-in

of Donald John Trump and VP JD Vance on

Jan. 20, 2025.

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota -- announces filing date for Dist. 34B seat (assassinated former Speaker) : Minnesota Public Radio

MPR News dot-org

special-election-for-melissa-hortmans-seat

July 11, 2025

see mprnews.org/  for ongoing updates

Potential candidates could have initially filed

July 15 and that will close July 22 -- results

as far as Primary / Run-offs will be determined

at end of FILING Period.

Netanyahu -- on trial, facing charges

NETANYAHU, "Bibi"

to nominate a FOX News interviewer for 

their Philadelphia, PA

private boarding High School's "Wall of Fame"

Cheltenham (near Philly)

The Fox News Staff/on-air celebrity is

Mark Levin 

________________________________


On Trial for

corruption charges;

present was Ambassador Mike Huckabee

see

axios.com/2025/07/16/netanyahu-trial-trump-mike-huckabee

Wed. July 16, 2025

at federal courtroom

in 

Tel Aviv, Israel.

Far-right conspiracy theory MN shooter faces 6 murder charges (July 15, 2025)

Tuesday July 15, 2025

Assassin appears before judge

in Minnesota courtroom (Minnesota Public Radio)

mprnews.org/story/2025/07/16/man-charged-with-killing-

minnesota-lawmaker-plans-to-plead-not-guilty

______________________________________

Wed. June 18, 2025

news from NPR affiliate

Minnesota News Public Radio

Law enforcement vehicles

formed a procession to

honor and memorialize

lawmaker Melissa Hortman

and her husband who were

assassinated by far-right

conspiracy-theory shooter

who had stalked other

public figures and health

care staff.  He will have court

appearances in the days and

weeks to come (for now: charges

of 2nd degree murder).

mprnews.org/story/2025/06/17/

formal-procession-for-rep-melissa-

hortman-and-husband-mark

Woodie Guthrie estate has new songs along with "This Land is Your Land" (newly re-mastered tapes)

 August 14, 2025

a collection of never-released songs

and spoken word interludes will be

published :

Woody at Home, volume I

and Volume II

The American folk artist/

singer-songwriter wrote

lyrics for more than 3,000

songs.  The 2025 release

comes from Woodie Guthrie

publications in Mt. Kisco, NY.

nytimes.com/2025/07/14/arts/music/woody-guthrie-

tapes-woody-at-home.html

the recordings include the sounds of children, cars,

notebook pages being turned, and guitar parts still 

being roughed out.

Katherine Hepburn -- was named "Woman of the Year"

McCall's magazine in 1970

honored as a woman not an actress. . .

Their tribute mentioned her appeal. . .

we should have more like her.

In TORONTO FILM SOCIETY

review of 1942 George Stevens'

directed Academy Award winning

Woman of the Year

the reviewer concludes:

"once again, the confusion

between actors and their

roles is complete."

torontofilmsociety.com/film-notes/woman-of-the-year-1942/

She was not only cast in roles but she developed concepts /

stories into full-blown Screenplays as well as major

Productions !

Vaccine for Yersinia Pestis (bubonic plague) - MRNA

July 16 posted at Jerusalem POST online platform

Israeli Researchers develop world's

first M RNA vaccine against

BACTERIUM

specifically Yersinia Pestis 

Tel Aviv University and Israeli Institute for

Biological Research.  The vaccine focuses on

the pneumonic plague variant.

_______________________________________

Bubonic Plague has been found as cause of death

for a

Flagstaff, AZ man

Friday July 12, 2025;

authorities have not identified

and released his hometown but

he came to the Flagstaff E.R. and

no cause of the plague transmission

is yet known.

PHOENIX, AZ Fox TV affiliate reporting

fox10phoenix.com (details forthcoming)

First recorded death from pneumonic

plague since 2007.

Mark Twain : It's always easier to fool people, than to convince them that they've been fooled

 "It's easier to fool people,

than to convince them that they've been fooled"

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.

It's what you know for sure

that just ain't so !"

Vote to claw back NPR, PBS funds / Foreign Aid - sent to Trump 50 - 50 - tie break by VP

Rescission measure

passed Tuesday night - Wed. overnight

Not all GOP Senators approved

this action by Senate leadership but

VP Vance cast the vote to break the

50 - 50 tie result.

Historic day

July 16, 2025

Kumagaya, Japan

Last air raid of World War II over  Japan

August 14 - 15, 1945

Kumagaya & Isesaki

cities bombed after Hiroshima - Nagasaki

A-bomb drops

details on 80th anniversary

of the B-29 bombing runs (90 planes)

/ death - destruction of homes, 75% in ruins

CNN.com/travel/last-us-fire-raid-kumagaya-japan-world-war-ii-intl-hnk.ml

INFORMATION for travellers who

are visitors to the cities (major and minor)

devastated at 80 years ago violent end of Pacific War 

period of hostilities (1941 - 1945)

 

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

WMU Archaeology Niles, MI lecture : (Arch. evidence of Fur Trading in Fort St. Joseph) - Mark Schurr of Notre Dame

July 23 (4th Wednesday) -- mid-summer schedule

ahead of "Archaeology Days" at Ft. St. Joseph

Colonial era fort held by French & English then U.S.

held at Niles District Library

620 E. Main

Niles, MI 49120

phone 269-683-8545

Free to all ages: no library card required

7 - 8:30 p.m.

lead-in academic lectures before

Ft. St. Joseph annual "Archaeology Days"

Niles, Michigan -- site of 400-yr.-old French

then Colonial Fort.

Last evening lecture July 23, 2025

Archaeological Evidence for Fur Trading in Ft. St. Joseph

Prof. Mark Schurr, Univ. of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN

see nileslibrary.com   WEBSITE

also on ZOOM

Did First or Second Thessalonians get sent and received first?

from DICTIONARY OF Paul 

and his Letters (Second Edition : 2023)

Article by N.K. Gupta Page 1054 :

Because I Thessalonians was longer 

by words/size, not necessarily number

of chapters, the canonical ordering and

grouping is by pairing of the letters of

the same church together.

Argument in favor of placing 2 Thess.

as the earlier letter are:

mention of past persecution in First

Thess. could fit with the "present

persecution" mentioned in 2 Thess.

1:4 - 7.

problem of idle troublemaking is

explained in more detail in 2 Thess.

3:11 - 15 but almost taken for

granted in First Thess 4: 10 - 12.

The mention of Apostle Paul's

authenticating signature in all his

letters 2 Thess. 3:17 makes sense

as a future warning, with First Thess.

coming later.

when Paul mentions that the Thessalonians

need no further teaching (I Thess. 5:1),

this could be taken as a reference to his

instruction in 2 Thess. 2:1 - 12.

the teachings in I Thess. 4:9,13 and 5:1

("now about. . .") could be interpreted

as a reference to earlier instructions given

in 2 Thessalonians.


Thessalonika

 Ancient city in Macedonia.

Macedonian general and later King

Cassander named this port city after

his wife. . .It held importance as a city

stop along the Via Egnatia a roadway

that ran east to west connecting the 

Adriatic and Aegean Seas.  By the

time Apostle Paul visited Roman 

Thessalonica it was a prosperous,

cosmopolitan, "the mother of all

Macedonia" (Antipate of Thessalonica,

Palatine Anthology IV. 228).

David Richardson, acting FEMA director -- met with state director Nim Kidd, according to photos (June 15 social media)

His trip Saturday July 12, 2025

[in blue jeans, white straw planters hat, cowboy boots]

to Kerr County, Texas (site of the flash flooding disaster)

was neither announced nor promoted beyond

five govt. photos on

social media

POLITICO.com/2025/07/15/FEMA-chief-texas-public-appearance-00452293

_____________________________________

POLITICO dot-com Thursday 10 July 2025

Since his appointment May 8 -- a no-show

POLITICO.com/2025/07/10/fema-leader-texas-flooding


He told staff at the Federal Emergency

Management Agency in comments

Monday June 2, 2025 that he was previously

unaware the United States has a hurricane

season (it had begun Sunday June 1).

Before his appointment as "acting"

administrator, Richardson has no experience

managing natural disasters.  REUTERS

press agency / platform reported the comments

shared at Monday staff check-in.

He is a Kristi Noem, DHS Secretary appointee

a Marine Combat veteran and martial arts

instructor, after she fired the first acting FEMA

chief of the Trump 2.0 administration (after

Jan. 20, 2025).

DHS has installed more than a half-dozen of its

officials into key roles at FEMA to 

effectively run the agency.  Most of them,

like Richardson have no or very little experience

handling regional and state disasters.  The updated

disaster plan for 2025 is a default one from 2024

but with a dramatically smaller workforce.  Estimates

are that 10% of staff have left since last season

and by the end of 2025, 30% will be retired or

transferred. CNN.com reporting