AMERICA IS DOING WELL TODAY....BUT

Yes, America is doing well today, if you are wealthy and Republican. President Donald Trump continues to reign supreme over the Republican Party. His 887-page Big Beautiful Bill sailed through the House of Representatives. The minor hangup was not pulling back on the tax breaks to the rich nor easing up on the cuts to liberal interests. The Freedom Caucus wanted much bigger reductions to medicaid and liberal interests and was worried about the national debt. Trump will make a big deal of signing the measure tomorrow. Read the details.

About the national debt, this bill will add $3.4 trillion to the already $29 trillion the country owes. Interest on this debt will top a trillion dollars/year and will equal our Gross National Product. From the New York Times:

Further, two-thirds of the federal budget goes to mandatory programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The Freedom Caucus wanted to lower this percentage.

Why not, though mostly meaningless, but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries delivered the longest speech in House history today, 8 hours and 45 minutes as a symbolic opposition gesture. The previous record holders were Republican Kevin McCarthy in 2021 and Nancy Pelosi in2018 when they were then the minority leader. Should be useful for campaign commercials to taint Republicans for assisting the rich and at the expense of the working class. Oh, the House has a long way to go to beat Senator Cory Booker's Congressional record, for he spoke on April Fool's Day this year for 25 hours and 5 minutes.

With all now being quiet in the Middle East, next on Trump's plate will be that July 9 tariffs deadline. As you must know, there has been a 90-day freeze. Looks like Vietnam is settled, but there remains the rest of the world, like China and the European Union, which represents 27 countries and accounts for 25% of all U.S. export trades. All the while, the American stock market has been breaking record highs.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs. Dow went up 0.77% and is only 0.41% from it's own record. If you were worried about your Nvidia shares crashing three months ago when it dropped to 102, it rose today to 159.34, putting its market cap at $3.89 trillion.

If you're keeping up with this 20th season of America's Got Talent, you were disappointed this week, for they tossed in a rerun. To recap:

Last year there were 8 auditions, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and finale. 21 weeks of shows.
For 2025, the next audition, #6, will be this coming Tuesday, July 8.
Here are all the week #5 auditions.

The first Golden Buzzer of the season went to Jourdan Blue, chosen by Howie Mandel. Lightwire received Simon Cowell's Golden Buzzer. Mel B. chose the Messoudi Brothers, and Terry Crews chose Funkateer Dancers.

There will be 12 of them this year, 8 during auditions and 4 in the early live shows. Frankly, I'm getting tired of those mass dancers, hanging in the air types, dog acts, people jugglers and so forth. However, Howie's and Simon's selections were outstanding.
If you've got two hours to spare, watch this 20 most unexpected singing auditions that shocked. Or at least view Simon singing, the first one.

DAY 1 on the DIAMOND PRINCESS

But first, Sheraton Yokohama Bay highlights of our Sheraton Club eats/drinks and breakfasts. Breakfast stations. Then taxi off to the Diamond Princess. Fall colors. Approaching from the rear of the Diamond Princess. Departure of Diamond Princess from Yokohama, Departure snack of lamb, beef, penne pasta, Johnny Walker Gold and champagne. Leaving Yokohama. We then went to Kai Sushi for dinner, Sushi and sake dinner, Then, off to Fun Dance Class. That followed by karaoke. The night continued into some old time disco. Finally, after midnight, back to our stateroom. Walked 4127 steps today. -

ON THE MATTER OF PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

Hawaii today celebrates King Kamehameha the First Day as a public holiday. Next Monday, June 19, or Juneteenth, is a Federal holiday. However, 22 states, including Hawaii, do not recognize this as a public holiday. Four of these will begin to honor this day next year, not Hawaii. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery. Here are the Hawaii holidays, and note three that only we have: New Year’s Day: 1st day in January Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: 3rd Monday in January Presidents’ Day: 3rd Monday in February Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day: 26th day in March Good Friday: Friday before Easter Easter: Calculating Easter Memorial Day: Last Monday in May King Kamehameha I Day: 11th day in June Independence Day: 4th day in July Statehood Day: 3rd Friday in August Labor Day: 1st Monday in September Veterans’ Day: 11th day in November Thanksgiving Day: 4th Thursday in November Christmas: 25th day in December There are 11 paid Fede...

HOW TO WATCH NETFLIX SHOWS

But first, maybe President Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza Peace Plan is showing some progress . No one expects the Hamas to accept all of them, but they did agree to release all captives and the act of handing over administration to Palestinian technocrats. So far, in the Gaza Strip, 66,288 have been killed and 169,165 wounded. On 7October2023, almost two years ago, 1139 were killed in the initial Hamas-led attack. About my topic of the day, I've long been lamenting the overflow of watchable films and series available on Netflix and Prime. Why expand into the plethora of other streaming options when I can't keep up with what I have, which costs me around $30/month. And, of course, why venture out to a movie theater to end up watching a film that will cost me around that amount of money, when you add the popcorn, drink, gasoline cost, time it takes to get there and back, and the risk of a car accident or worse. Oh, also getting infected with ...

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