MAKE AMERICA GRIM AGAIN

This is not a great day for the USA, Planet Earth and Humanity.  MAGA for Donald Trump and our country today could well be the acronym for Make American Grim Again.  We've had worse days, but from all fronts, life is grueling.

• 
  President Donald and Melania Trump went to Texas today, where flash flooding killed 120 people last weekend, with another 161 still missing.  Even though he will be in a Republican stronghold, he will be faced with the fact that he cut back on FEMA and NOAA funding that no doubt exacerbated the debacle.  This will not be a crowd that will heckle him for downplaying global warming, but the media will.

• 
  The State Department will today fire 1300 employees, further drawing the U.S. into isolationism.  The Supreme Court this week cleared the way for these layoffs. The department has already dismantled the entire U.S. Agency for International Development.

• 
  Is Elon Musk's American Party a concern?
• To Republicans and Donald Trump, yes.
• Musk was born in South America and cannot become a POTUS.
• However, he is very rich and is PO'd.
• All he needs to do in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections:
• Support a few American Party candidates for the House of Representative.  He doesn't need to win any seats.  In a three-party race, the Democratic candidate will almost surely draw most the Democrats and half the Independents.  All Musk's American Party candidate has to do is to sway a small percentage of Republicans to this new party.  Needs to beat 9 currently Republican seats.  At least 10%, or 44 of the 435 House seats should be vulnerable.
• Using this same strategy, he would need to reverse only four total Senate seats away from Republicans.  Any American Party candidate will draw a lot more votes from disenchanted Republicans than from Democrats. 
• Of course, if Trump sees this happening, he will just postpone the midterm election.  All he has to do is to continue to upset the masses so they seriously riot in the late summer of 2026.  That would be justification for delaying the vote.  Or defy a serious Supreme Court decision, and just become a dictator.  They have no enforcement power, and neither does the U.S. Congress.
• 
  The stock market has been doing great, but will fall today because of Trump's tariff ploys.  Confused about where things stand?  Read this primer.
• On the war front.
• Yesterday was Day 643 of the Hamas-Israel war.  Israel continues to bomb targets in the Gaza Strip, many times killing children.  Peace?  Only rumors.

• 
  Trump and Putin have had a falling out, and the Ukraine-Russia war sees no end.  He promised to end the war on Day 1, but it has now been almost 6 months.  Trump said he made a deal to send weapons to NATO for a price to give to Ukraine, which will only prolong this conflict.

• 
  All seems quiet in the Iran vs Israel/USA war, but there are troublesome signs.
• Will China invade Taiwan?  The chances today are at 9%.  Follow this interesting graphic.  It was 17% on 7April2025.

Yes, things are grim today.  Hawaii, though, is sufficiently remote to all the above.  In fact, on Wednesday, Kilauea Volcano experienced its 28th episode.  Fountains reaching 1200 feet high.  Want to watch future actions?  Seems to happen almost weekly, but now only lasts for a day or less.

The other local activity of note is Transpac 2025.  

• 53 boats left Los Angeles on a 2225 mile race to Honolulu in three divisions:  July 1, July 3 and July 5, the fastest leaving the latest so that they all sort of cross the Diamond Head finish line within a few days of each other.
• These crafts range from 35 to 88 feet long.
• There is a handicap system to determine the winner of the King Kalakaua Trophy.

• 
  The first to finish, this morning 7:24AM was Lucky (formerly known as Rambler 88), the largest yacht.  Won the Barn Door Trophy for the fastest elapsed time. Winds were great, and traveled more than 400 miles in one day.

• 
  Roy Disney, owner and skipper of the Andrews 70 Pyewacket, is in his 26th Transpac.  He is Walt's grandnephew.
• However, 19-year old Oscar Perry, is on the Santa Cruz 50 T/S Cal Maritime-Oaxaca, and is the first time he has been on an offshore race.
• Yet, 20-year Kelly Holthus, on his dad Tom's Botin 56 Badpak, is on his fifth Transpac.

• 
  Note that racing yacht sails now are often black.  This is because of the use of carbon fiber and other high-performance materials. In the early days of the Transpac, all sails were white.
• How to keep track of boats.
• Click on this for photos.

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