Althouse: At the Fireworks Café...

July 4, 2025

At the Fireworks Café...

... you can talk all night.

45 comments:

Original Mike said...: 32 boats in the boat parade on our lake today. Festooned with flags, patriotic music, and a 4th of July Santa bringing up the rear (not sure what that was about).

Up the rebels!
Down the British!; 7/4/25, 5:39 PM
ALP said...: I got an email from the Social Security Administration informing me that SS recipients will pay far less income tax on their SS benefits due to the BBB. Now, I am wondering if all self-respecting Trump haters will continue to pay the current income tax rate on their SS benefits. I mean, to take advantage of this would be to support Trump, correct?; 7/4/25, 6:09 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: Elon Musk is now the Democrats best friend. He's going to start a new political party called the "Ross Perot Party."

Last time they did this we got Hillary Clinton.; 7/4/25, 6:35 PM
Josephbleau said...: Saw a thing about Ken Burns and a new production of the American Revolution. I loved the Civil War one and hope this is as good.; 7/4/25, 6:37 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: "I got an email from the Social Security Administration informing me that SS recipients will pay far less income tax on their SS benefits due to the BBB."

If you did get that email, then you're being sort of misinformed. Social Security benefits aren't "taxed." If your only income is Social Security benefits, you owe no tax. In fact, you can have both Social Security benefits and a job. You can make up to 50% of your Social Security benefits at your job - and still pay no taxes on your Social Security.

So let's take a random person, making $26,000 a year on Social Security. They can have a part time job, making up to $13,000 a year, without any penalty ... so giving them $39,000 a year. For every dollar MORE than that which you report as income (stupid) your Social Security benefits would be reduced by $1.

Of course, only idiots report income to the government. The smart ones of us work side gigs all the time and do cash-only or barter deals, so our Social Security isn't impacted in any way whatsoever.

What the Big Beautiful Bill did wasn't to eliminate taxes on Social Security, which of course Trump promised in order to get elected, but settled for less - it increased the standard deduction by $6,000. This has the effect of allowing you to earn 50% + $6,000 and still not have your Social Security earnings reduced.

That's of some benefit, obviously, but it is far from what Trump promised seniors in exchange for their votes.

He fucked us over. And we'll never vote for him ever again.

Oh wait ...; 7/4/25, 6:45 PM
Political Junkie said...: Imagine going to a Christian Summer Camp over July 4 and dying in a TX flood. Lost some girls in the greater neighborhhoods. You never know.; 7/4/25, 6:47 PM
Mason G said...: FLC is unhappy with what Trump's done. Who could have possibly seen *that* coming?; 7/4/25, 6:50 PM
Mason G said...: The Babylon Bee on x...

"Democrats Confused By Parades Without Any Naked People Or Sex Toys"

https://x.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1941195389899510121; 7/4/25, 7:15 PM
Original Mike said...: "FLC is unhappy with what Trump's done. Who could have possibly seen *that* coming?"

Shockers!

Do they turn now to next fiscal year's budget? Regular order this time?; 7/4/25, 7:17 PM
Eva Marie said...: Babylon Bee hits it out of the park every time. Happy 4th everyone.; 7/4/25, 7:28 PM
Jersey Fled said...: Dealers have approximately 140,000 new EV’s in inventory as of the end of June.

Source: caredge.com; 7/4/25, 7:30 PM
Mason G said...: "Dealers have approximately 140,000 new EV’s in inventory as of the end of June"

Hope they're not all in the same garage.; 7/4/25, 7:32 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Former Law Clerk makes some errors. Ordinarily I wouldn't care, but somone may act on this misinformation.

First, there is no SS benefit penalty for working - once past your full retirement age.

Two, before that, the penalty is 1 dollar in your SS benefit for every 2 dollars worked. Not 1 to 1.

Third, if your SS Benefit is 30K - only 85 percent is subject to tax. Trump gives you 6K on top of that. So, you're only paying tax on about 20K out of our estimated 30K.; 7/4/25, 7:33 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: "FLC is unhappy with what Trump's done."

You should be too.

When politicians of any party say they're going to do one thing in order to get elected, and then sell their constituents down the river once they get into office, we should be unhappy.

I don't like it when Donald Trump lies for votes, and I'll call him out when I see him doing it. To hold him to account. And every other Republican. Or Democrat.

In the tradition of George Washington.; 7/4/25, 7:39 PM
Mason G said...: Well, I'm not. Sorry you didn't get your pony.

Well, I'm not.; 7/4/25, 7:41 PM
n.n said...: Democrats Confused By Parades Without Any Naked People Or Sex Toys"

Imagine the liberal cacophony if there was a pride parade with lions, lionesses, and their [unPlanned] cubs in gay progression.; 7/4/25, 7:55 PM
Narr said...: Our recent dearly departed dackel didn't really mind fireworks very much--not to the extent often seen, with whimpering and cowering under furniture and so forth.

My wife, OTOH . . .; 7/4/25, 7:59 PM
Quaestor said...: I crashed a lifetime friendship tonight. The Trump haters couldn't hold back on their drunken assassination plans, so I left without a goodbye.; 7/4/25, 8:04 PM
Howard said...: Happy Fourth; 7/4/25, 8:12 PM
buwaya said...: Hmm. I have to find friends who make drunken assassination plans! Nobody I know is so interesting.; 7/4/25, 8:13 PM
n.n said...: assassination plans

Planned Presidenthood (PP)? Liberal license to entertain abortive ideation is a progressive condition (PC).; 7/4/25, 8:15 PM
Original Mike said...: "When politicians of any party say they're going to do one thing in order to get elected, and then sell their constituents down the river once they get into office, we should be unhappy."

What, in broad strokes, did he do or not do?; 7/4/25, 8:31 PM
Jupiter said...: I seldom read fiction any more, or at least, admitted fiction, but I spent most of the Fourth reading Book I of Northwest Passage, by Kenneth Roberts. It was very popular in 1937. It describes an assault by Rogers' Rangers, a force of British Colonials, on the Indian village at St. Francis, Canada, during the French-Indian War of the 17th Century. There are no Frenchmen in the village, but it has long been the base for ruinous raids into the British Colonies, in which many were killed, or taken hostage. While I would hesitate to describe the policy of the Raiders as "genocide", it is their stated plan and policy to kill every male of fighting age in the village. Given the realities of the situation, it is difficult to see how their policy could be otherwise (as they take stock after the assault, in which two or three hundred male Indians were killed, they note that over 700 scalps were hung on poles around the villages. Some of those scalps belonged to members of their families). This casts a certain long, distorted shadow over recent events.
I recommend the book. Strongly.; 7/4/25, 9:18 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Thanks Jupiter, I agree. Northwest passage the film is good, but the Book is better.; 7/4/25, 9:43 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Fireworks and doggies dont mix. Guess their ears are too sensitive. Our cats seem to have weathered the 4th of July much better.; 7/4/25, 9:45 PM
Narr said...: Rogers' Rangers are 18th C, not 17th.

The veracity or otherwise of Heller's "Catch 22" has been discussed here--one commenter was miffed that it wasn't true, as if novels needed to be true--and I found a book at the library yesterday by Patricia Chapman Meder titled "The True Story of Catch-22: The Real Men and Missions of Joseph Heller's 340th Bomb Group in World War II" which shows how much truth there is in the novel. Truth twisted, transposed, and transmogrified, but still visible through the artifice.

The author's father was Will Chapman, the model for Group Commander Colonel Cathcart, and she has identified other men and incidents that Heller used for his purposes, suitably disguised.

It's a grab bag, not too well organized or proofread, but includes a lot of testimony from and about the real people who Heller cannibalized and fictionalized.

My father was a pilot in the 310th BG(M) which was part of the same bomber wing (57th) as Heller, and the book has helped me understand some of the things he included in his war scrapbooks in 1960-62.; 7/4/25, 9:53 PM
Jupiter said...: "Rogers' Rangers are 18th C, not 17th."
You are correct. Years starting in 17 are in the 18th C.
While fleeing south and east after their massively successful raid, the raiders are closely pursued by the French and their Indian allies. Having exhausted their supplies, and nearing starvation, they split up to improve their chances of finding game. A group of them manage to shoot a moose, and are butchering it when they are captured by a pursuing party of French and Indians. Listening to their captors, they realize that they are to be used as pack animals to carry the moose they shot back to their captors' base, where they will be turned over to the squaws to be tortured to death.
I am reminded of the fate of B-29 crews shot down over Japan in WWII.; 7/4/25, 10:34 PM
Jupiter said...: I don't think that "veracity" is an issue with Catch-22. Obviously, Milo Minderbinder does not represent any particular person, but is rather an avatar of the many people who profited from the War. Heller's immediate point is that the War was absurd, at whatever scale one chooses to examine it, but this absurdity did not provide an escape hatch for those caught up in its toils, unless they were willing and able to step outside of their cultural conditioning. Which is to say, their culture was the most dangerous thing they had ever encountered.; 7/4/25, 11:16 PM
Aggie said...: Been years since I read it, but I second the recommendation for Northwest Passage

Lovely day on a local lake, eating Texas BBQ and visiting with friends. Lots of little ones coming along, a lake house full of people, dogs, children. We had so many fireworks to shoot off the dock this year, we tired ourselves out before we ran out the supply - so we left some behind for them to fire off tomorrow.

The 500g cakes are nice, light one fuse and watch the show. But I still prefer the horsepower of the mortars, or 'artillery' as they are calling them this year.; 7/4/25, 11:24 PM
Iman said...: https://x.com/robschneider/status/1941009216539349309?s=42; 7/4/25, 11:46 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: On the stairs I smoke a
Cigarette alone
Mexican kids are shooting
Fireworks below
And hey, baby, it's the Fourth of July; 7/4/25, 11:51 PM
gadfly said...: The bill that passed the House and Senate provides a tax deduction of $6,000 to seniors with individual incomes up to $75,000 or married earnings of up to $150,000.

This happens as a result of a new, additional tax deduction specifically for seniors 65 and over that is designed to provide relief for people receiving SS income.

But Trump enlists the aid of the SSA to rebrand the legislation as an elimination of the Social Security tax, which he promised during his 2024 campaign.

In the real world, about 50 percent of recipients now pay zero tax related to Social Security, so that taxable income will decline by a maximum of $6,000 for some higher-income (up to $75K, Single, or $150K Joint filers).

So the government tax giveaway refund will likely be below $1,000 for those who can claim the new deduction. The maximum tax reduction will be $2,220 ($6,000 X 37%).; 7/5/25, 1:06 AM
rhhardin said...: Catch-22 wasn't about war or the military but large organizations in general. Reading it as about the military misses all the jokes.; 7/5/25, 4:23 AM
lonejustice said...: Meanwhile, Russia defies Trump, launches the largest drone attack against Kiev since the war began, and ramps up the use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, including WWI-era poison gas.

Buy hey, nothing to worry about. Trump promised to end the Russia/Ukraine war within 24 hours.; 7/5/25, 4:24 AM
Humperdink said...: I read quite a bit of political news. There are numerous articles trashing the big beautiful bill for it removes millions of people from Medicaid and the Snap program. Who are these people? Specifics? Why there are none. You can guess why.; 7/5/25, 5:12 AM
Humperdink said...: @lonejustice. Have you thought about impeachment? Or maybe a bit of lawfare?; 7/5/25, 5:36 AM
rehajm said...: I apparently have snook in the fresh water lagoon behind my house. All this time ai thought they were carp. Any of you fisher people know a fly or streamer a landlocked snook would go for? They are uninterested in anything I’ve offered thus far…; 7/5/25, 5:56 AM
Breezy said...: SS has been on life support my whole life. Best to start saving and investing for retirement when you start working. I wish the tax on SS was suspended fully, but not surprised that it wasn’t. Both the House and Senate reined it in. The SS obligation is a huge burden on all of us.; 7/5/25, 6:02 AM
Mr. Forward said...: I am surrounded by Mega Resorts who compete with each other to have the largest and loudest fireworks display. To the astonishment of my friends and family this is the third year in a row I have slept right through it. It's kind of a superpower.; 7/5/25, 6:02 AM
john mosby said...: Gadfly's logic: "The Trump cuts will bankrupt us - and they're not even as deep as Trump claims!"

RR
JSM; 7/5/25, 6:29 AM
Temujin said...: Rehajm- I have a neighbor who is an avid fisherman along the Gulf Coast of Florida. He catches snook fly fishing in the Gulf. I'll ask him what he uses. He does make his own flies, so it's probably one of those concoctions. It's 7:45 am. He's probably been out there an hour or so by now.; 7/5/25, 6:45 AM
boatbuilder said...: 51-50 in the Senate. 218-214 in the House.
Yes, it's not perfect. Politics is the art of the possible.

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometime
You get what you need.; 7/5/25, 7:36 AM
Josephbleau said...: “ I apparently have snook in the fresh water lagoon behind my house. ”

For snook off a dock I’d use shrimp on a treble hook. With 20 lb line. Fish at low light conditions. Just my opinion.; 7/5/25, 9:53 AM
Narr said...: Veracity in Catch-22 was quite an issue for at least one commenter.

And no, I didn't miss all the jokes because I think it is about more than behavior in large organizations.; 7/5/25, 10:05 AM
Jersey Fled said...: Grok now confirms that the letter by the “51 current and former intelligence officials” was “politically motivated” and “subsequently disproved”.; 7/5/25, 11:07 AM