Prayers for everyone affected by this horrific flooding and all the first responders and rescue personnel.
Texas officials on Saturday afternoon confirmed that 32 people have been confirmed dead from the dangerous flooding in Texas. Fourteen of the victims have been identified as children.
Five bodies of the recovered adults and three children remain unidentified, officials said.
The number of victims will rise before this is over.
On July 5, 1946, French designer Louis Réard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris. Parisian showgirl Micheline Bernardini modeled the new fashion, which Réard dubbed “bikini,” inspired by a news-making U.S. atomic test that took place off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier that week.
(The box that Micheline is holding is the container her bikini came in. Réard said that a bikini should have no more material that what would be able to pass through a wedding ring.)
The first group of immigrant detainees has arrived at a new detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," amid U.S. President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts against illicit immigrants, local media reported Thursday.
"Detainees began arriving last night," Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement, as cited by Columbia Broadcasting Corporation.
"We are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people's mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens. We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida," added McLaughlin.
The facility was built in just eight days. Featuring more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet of barbed wire and 400 security personnel, it will have a capacity of about 3,000 detainees when fully operational, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said.
Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to halt construction of the new immigrant detention facility, arguing that Florida officials and the federal government have trampled over environmental regulations in their rush to build the facility, the New York Times has reported.
Human rights advocates and Native American tribes have also protested against the center, arguing that the facility endangers the delicate Everglades ecosystem, subjects detainees to harsh conditions due to extreme heat and mosquito infestations, and occupies land that holds sacred significance for the tribes.
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has been on a bit of a roll lately, calling out his party, and Friday was no exception when he dropped a very unapologetic patriotic Fourth of July post and took a swipe at members of his own party for their lack of pride in America.
In the post on X, Fetterman shared a black-and-white image of what appeared to be the hood of a Jeep that had the outline of the American flag stenciled on the top of the car.
The Gallup poll Fetterman referenced showed that the biggest drop in American pride exists in the people who make up the Democratic Party.
The report noted:
Democrats are mostly responsible for the drop in U.S. pride this year, with 36% saying they are extremely or very proud, down from 62% a year ago. This is only the second time Democrats' pride has fallen below the majority level, along with a 42% reading in 2020, the last year of the first [President Donald] Trump administration. That poll was conducted during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and shortly after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.
The new CIA assessment released this week is nothing short of a bombshell—a long-overdue confirmation of what conservative media has been saying for years: The Obama administration, with the eager help of its top intelligence brass, orchestrated an unprecedented operation to cripple Donald Trump’s presidency before it even began. This isn’t some fevered speculation or partisan rumor.
The CIA’s own review lays out, in damning detail, how former CIA Director John Brennan, former DNI James Clapper, and former FBI Director James Comey took “unusual” and direct control over the infamous Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that became the cornerstone of the Russia collusion hoax.
Let’s be clear about what this means. These men didn’t just oversee the process—they commandeered it, sidelining career intelligence professionals and shutting out 13 of the 17 intelligence agencies from the assessment. Brennan handpicked the analysts, ensuring only the most compliant voices had a say. The National Intelligence Council, the body normally responsible for such crucial reports, was shoved aside. Why? Because the outcome was predetermined: manufacture a narrative that Trump was a Russian asset, no matter how flimsy the evidence.
John Ratcliffe, the former Director of National Intelligence, put it bluntly: “This was Obama, Comey, Clapper and Brennan deciding ‘We’re going to screw Trump.’” They manufactured the collusion narrative, stamped it with the authority of the intelligence community, and then classified the details to keep the public in the dark. It was, in essence, a soft coup—a direct assault on the will of the American people, carried out by those sworn to uphold the Constitution.
(In 2019 Nike places the Betsy Ross American flag on a sneaker line. Colin Kaepernick criticized it and the decision was made to cancel it. The following was taken from Rowe’s blog.)
Dear Mike,
Why would anyone in their right mind support Nike after this latest round of nonsense? Why would any public company with an image to protect take advice from an athlete? How can our attention be sucked up by people with nothing better to do than complain about fireworks and tanks on the fourth of July? Our country seems be losing its mind, or at the very least, its sense of history and perspective. As a man who has always seemed comfortable with our country’s flag, I was hoping you might have some insight to share on this, especially today.
Karen Murphy
Hi Karen,
I think Nike has the right to decorate their shoes with whatever flag they desire. I think Kaepernick has the right to offer marketing advice to any company that’ll take it. And I think you and I have the right to purchase whatever brand of tennis shoes we choose. The reason these rights exist, is because we live in the United States, and the reason the states are united, is because we decided, two and a half centuries ago, to be free of our British masters. So, we fought a war. Happily, the results of that war made us a free country. Then, four score and seven years later, we decided we could not call ourselves a free country, as long as slavery existed. So, we fought another war. Happily, the results of that war made us freer still. Had either conflict gone the other way, our county would not exist – not as we know it, anyway. And the flag we fly today would look nothing like the one I’m proud to stand for.
In other words, I’m tempted on this day to remind you that there’s nothing inherently dangerous about a sneaker company currying favor with a woke athlete, or fellow citizens complaining about displays of patriotism and military might. On the other hand, I think Ronald Reagan was right when he said we’re always one generation away from losing the freedoms we currently enjoy. Along with the siren song of socialism, the persistent promise of “free” stuff, and the breathtaking level of censorship on our college campuses, I worry about the growing belief among many that we can somehow improve our present by erasing our past; by toppling statues, outlawing “problematic” symbols, or rewriting specific pieces of our history in ways that leave us feeling less offended. George Orwell said it best…
“The most effective way to destroy a people is to deny and obliterate their understanding of history.”
Of course, Orwell also said this…
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
In other words, we can’t deny Kapernick’s right to speak his mind, but we shouldn’t ignore the flaws in his thinking. He has argued that the Betsy Ross flag is “racist,” because it flew at a time when slavery was legal in America. By that definition, aren’t crosses are also racist? Weren’t they on churches attended by slave-owning congregants? Why not demand their removal? What about the Bald Eagle? Wasn’t our national bird flying around when slaves were held? Why not protest it as well? What about the Great Seal? E Pluribus Unum? The Liberty Bell? It rang countless times while slavery was still the law of the land. Why not demand its removal? Kaepernick’s argument is unpersuasive, not because it’s unpopular, or unpatriotic. It’s unpersuasive because it’s completely void of logic.
As for the presence of tanks in parades, I’ll triple down with Orwell, even though its somewhat suspicious to quote an English writer on the occasion of our independence. But it’s tough to argue with this one.
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
Sleep well, Karen.
And Happy Independence Day
Mike
1941 Ford Delivery Panel Van - Dually - V8
This 1941 Ford Delivery Panel Van was a US army-issue ambulance with 1½-ton chassis fitted with dual rear wheels. It is powered by a flathead, V8 engine with a manual four-speed gearbox; top speed is around 50mph.
Originally intended for use as an ambulance for the US Army in Europe during the Second World War, nothing is known as to how and why it was never delivered and eventually ended up in a barn in Arizona where it was discovered in 1975.
Titled “Fireworks”, I found out what they specifically meant by “the pursuit of happiness.”
"And the pursuit of happiness."
Prayers for everyone affected by this horrific flooding and all the first responders and rescue personnel. Texas officials on Saturday after...
