Day: July 5, 2025

I’ve been looking at the photos of the sweet little girls who are missing, and those who have been confirmed dead, and I’m blinded by tears as I’m typing this. I cannot even comprehend how the parents and grandparents feel. I’m terribly sad for what they are going through. Camp Mystic. I saw where one of the Mom’s whose little girl died said that she would always think of her daughter as “living her best life at Camp Mystic”.

Already people are coming with the “blame game” even before all of the waters have receded. Even before all of the bodies are recovered, and all of the mourning has begun.

Can we not just once ….feel empathy, sympathy, and shared pain for other human beings who need it? Can’t we pray for them, and bear them up during their sorrow before we start politicizing this tragedy?

There will be plenty of time for all that later. Plenty of time to point fingers. I remember a time when the whole country used to come together when these types of tragedies happened. I wish it could be that way again.

Two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, State Senator John Hoffman and State Representative Melissa Hortman, were shot in their own homes overnight.

What Happened

• 2:00 a.m. – A man dressed in police-style body armor opened fire at Senator Hoffman’s home in Champlin, MN, shooting Hoffman and another individual.

Shortly after – The same attacker drove roughly 8 miles to Brooklyn Park, where he entered Representative Hortman’s home and shot both Hortman and her spouse. A third person may have also been wounded.

5:30 a.m. – A shelter-in-place order was issued across a wide area of Brooklyn Park. Residents were told a man impersonating a police officer was at large and considered armed and dangerous.

7:00 a.m. – Authorities warned residents not to open their doors unless two verified officers were present, and even then, to call 911 to confirm their identity.

Morning – Governor Tim Walz activated the State Emergency Operations Center, pledging full support to local police and urging calm while the investigation continues.

Facts

• The suspect remains at large.
• He was wearing body armor and pretending to be a cop.
• The attacks appear targeted and premeditated.
• No motive has been confirmed, but both victims are Democratic lawmakers.
• The state is now on high alert.

Their conditions are serious. We are praying for them and their families.

A couple of things on my mind. One of them is the vast increase in phishing emails, texts and phone calls since the last part of January. These intrusions, which have all gotten more detailed I.e., they have Social Security numbers and other information they should not have, …..all of them seem to coincide with the DOGE intrusions into the Social Security Network, and other federal institutions where all of our….we American citizens…where all of our pertinent information lies.

Who knows what information was downloaded onto hard drives, by young and unverified, unvetted individuals? Who knows what they did with it? Was it surreptitiously sold to the highest bidder?

Pair with with the UNPRECEDENTED release (yes I will call it a release and not a theft) as follows:

1. Data Breaches & Leaks: This is a common meaning, where massive amounts of sensitive data are released without authorization, often due to security vulnerabilities or breaches.
   Notable examples include the Yahoo breach affecting 3 billion accounts, the National Public Data breach impacting 2.9 billion individuals, and the 2024 “Mother of All Breaches” involving 26 billion records.
   These breaches can lead to significant financial costs for companies and expose individuals to identity theft and scams.
2. Government Data Sharing: The term is also being used to describe governmental efforts to collect and share large amounts of personal data from state and other entities.
   For example, the Trump administration’s initiative to amass data from state databases for immigration enforcement purposes.
   This type of data sharing can raise legal questions and privacy concerns.
3. Scientific Data Generation: With advancements in technology, particularly in fields like astronomy and physics, massive amounts of data are being generated and made available for research.
   The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, for example, will generate 20 terabytes of data per night, offering opportunities for groundbreaking discoveries.
   The growing volume of data presents challenges and opportunities for organizations to manage, secure, and extract valuable insights.
4. Open Data Initiatives: Governments and organizations are increasingly releasing large datasets to the public for analysis and innovation, fostering transparency and citizen engagement.

All this is causing my wife and I to have dozens of phone calls a day, and just today my wife has had to call credit cards companies because scammers have gotten part of her social security number and are attempting to open accounts in her name.

I’ve frozen all my accounts, and intend to use cash for personal purchases. I already did that last month, and ended up spending less anyway. I intend to see about switching all the accounts possible back to sending me statements, so I can mail them checks! My opinion is that this is only going to get worse…not just for us older folks, but for everyone! Everyone just be careful what you say when someone calls IF you answer.

As for me, I don’t even answer these calls if they are not in my contact list. Then I block the numbers. I have over a thousand blocked numbers….and they are still calling!

I got a job as a groundskeeper at the IHOP and I’m out doing my work. I’m an old dude as you know, and this is hard work out in the sun! I’m down to weed eating around the bushes, when all the sudden I’m surrounded by several guys in masks and vests with big guns! My flight or fight instincts kick in and I start to run!

The men start yelling “you’re under arrest”! …but what for? I haven’t done anything, I was just working my job! As I run, I am afraid. I point my weedeater at them…as everyone knows, it’s the weapon of choice for self defense. One of the men tackles me, and one of them punches me, as they put zip ties on my hands. Another shoves a baton roughly in my face and then against my throat…choking me, as they shove me with force and throttle me as they put me in a car. They say they are police, or “ICE”.

As I collapse into the back seat, I think about my three sons who are Marines, two of them still deployed serving this country I am in. What will they think of me now? What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?

As of June 28, 2025, the Senate’s “big beautiful bill” has not yet been estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for its budget impact. However, the bill does include deeper cuts than the House’s tax bill, which would cut more than $1 trillion from federal health coverage over a decade. The Senate bill also includes these changes:
Medicaid: The bill lowers the maximum tax rate that states can impose on Medicaid providers from 6% to 3.5% in the 41 states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. This would effectively halve the amount that states receive in tax revenue from Medicaid providers.
Medicare: The bill eliminates Medicare physician payment relief.

It has been noted that the larger part of the cuts won’t be enacted until 2028. Wonder why, don’t you?? They voted several billion dollars to shore up local hospitals temporarily, because American’s memories are short. Oh, and I thought there was a “promise” not to cut Medicare? So much for that. Oh well, they have to have that trillion to give tech companies like Google and Meta RETROACTIVE tax cuts of billions going back to 2022 for “R&D”. Don’t believe me? Look it up yourself? Don’t care? You will when people you love die because they can’t find medical care. Also, it’s bound to make insurance premiums for your work insurance go up. Winning yet?

When I heard this tonight on the news it was something that was almost unbelievable. Why would the federal government halt the sharing of this information? The only reasons I can think of is: 1. They want more people to die. 2. They want to be purposefully cruel to people. If any of you, no matter your political stance can think of, or know of a more compelling or different reason, chime right in and let me know:

A critical US atmospheric data collection program will be halted by Monday, giving weather forecasters just days to prepare, according to a public notice sent this week. Scientists that the Guardian spoke with say the change could set hurricane forecasting back “decades”, just as this year’s season ramps up.

In a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) message sent on Wednesday to its scientists, the agency said that “due to recent service changes” the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) will “discontinue ingest, processing and distribution of all DMSP data no later than June 30, 2025”.

Due to their unique characteristics and ability to map the entire world twice a day with extremely high resolution, the three DMSP satellites are a primary source of information for scientists to monitor Arctic sea ice and hurricane development. The DMSP partners with Noaa to make weather data collected from the satellites publicly available.

The reasons for the changes, and which agency was driving them, were not immediately clear. Noaa said they would not affect the quality of forecasting.

However, the Guardian spoke with several scientists inside and outside of the US government whose work depends on the DMSP, and all said there are no other US programs that can form an adequate replacement for its data.

Read that again: NO other U.S. programs that can form an adequate replacement for its data!