Day: June 27, 2025

Planning Your Next Vacay

Finally for this week…..that dream vacation…..

It’s Summer and thoughts of the perfect vacation pop into mind….soon there will be a new destination for all those thrill seekers.

There are people out there that feel they must do the ultimate trip for their next vacation….some feel it must be unique and exotic…..well I have an idea for them….

North Korea is rolling out a new beach resort on its east coast, hoping to draw tourists—and much-needed revenue—into one of the world’s most secretive nations. Leader Kim Jong Un hailed the Wonsan Kalma resort as one of the country’s “greatest feats” of the year, though it comes six years after its planned competition. It was initially expected to open in October 2019 before construction delays and the coronavirus pandemic wrecked plans, per the BBC. Kim, who grew up in the town favored by the country’s elite, attended an event to celebrate the resort’s completion on Tuesday, alongside his wife, daughter, and Russian ambassador Alexander Matsegora.

The area will “play a leading role in establishing the tourist culture” of North Korea, Kim said, per the Guardian. State media report the resort on a 2.5-mile stretch of beach with hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and a water park, can accommodate up to 20,000 visitors. It opens to domestic tourists July 1. Some tour operators believe it will later accept Russian tourists—”currently the only foreign nationals allowed into some parts of the country,” per the BBC. The two countries have been tightening partnerships and, on Thursday, reopened a direct passenger train route between Pyongyang and Moscow after a five-year closure related to the coronavirus pandemic.

There you go….if you want unique and exotic then North Korea is the place for you.

How serious is this?

Will there be a Trump Tower coming soon?

Will people consider the past history of those ‘visiting’ this location?

Personally I will stay close to home….there is nothing in North Korea that I am dying (pun intended) to see…..but as my grandfather use to say….”if you feel froggy then jump”.

But if you decide to stretch your luck and it ends badly then tough sh*t…..what were you thinking?

As the weekend begins enjoy your Summer and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Building His Brand

So far since his election to the highest office in the land Donny has done very little for the people that voted for him….all the while it is about building the Trump brand.

“I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very simple: if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”

Those were Donald Trump’s words to writer Tony Schwartz in the Art of the Deal. In his second term, Trump has been thinking big about making money. Since his reelection campaign began, Trump is estimated to have more than doubled his net worth to $5.4bn.

A sizeable chunk of that cash has come from the launch of Trump-branded products. This week the Trump Organization entered the mobile phone business with a Trump-branded service that will include a “sleek gold” phone, which costs $499, that is “made in America”. Maybe?

Never to miss a patriotic marketing moment, they launched Trump Mobile at Trump Tower in New York on the 10-year anniversary of their father’s announcement at the top of a gold escalator, to the sound of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World, that he would run for president. The premium tier of service would be dubbed the 47 Plan, priced at $47.45 a month.

…

The blurred lines between business and politics, impacting how candidates are portrayed, policies are shaped and voters engage with the political process – commonly referred to as the commercialization of politics – may not be Trump’s to own exclusively, but he’s taken it to a new level.

“It is troubling, and more than in jest, that this is now a political economy and he’s actually saying this presidency is a brand-franchise,” says Borkowski. “There is no separation between power and profit. He’s redrawn the boundaries between commerce and the office of the president, and he’s accelerated the notion of post-ethical politics.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/21/trump-products-presidency-as-a-brand

While building the Trump brand is he and his organization of billionaires looting the nation?

The pattern has continued into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Three months into the administration, Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr, launched an elite private members’ club named Executive Branch which commands a sign-in fee of a cool $500,000.

Its attraction? Access to cabinet members and top Trump advisers.

Not to be outdone by his own son, Trump himself has followed the same playbook at his Mar-a-Lago resort. In March, he began inviting business leaders to dine with him in group settings at $1m a seat.

Prefer something more intimate? No problem. One-on-one meetings are also available, yours for $5m.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/16/trump-conflict-of-interest

Donny makes money while endangering the poor and killing the middle class….his concern for this country is secondary to his acquisition of wealth….

Is that what you clowns voted for?

If so then congrats on destroying this country’s economy….

You fools are as blind as you are deaf.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

OBBB Has Hit A Snag

Apparently the ‘beauty’ is choke full of ugly!

Donny super bill, One Big Beautiful ill the OBBB has hit a snag in the Senate…the Medicaid part has shown to be in violation of Senate rules….

The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a key Medicaid provider tax overhaul that’s central to President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” doesn’t adhere to procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow to Republicans rushing to finish the massive package this week.

  • Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled on Thursday that the section of the tax cut and spending bill covering the Medicaid cuts and tax overhaul violates the Byrd Rule, which determines what legislation can be passed with a simple majority through the budget reconciliation process, the Hill reports.
  • Guidance from the parliamentarian is rarely ignored, and it forces GOP leaders to consider options, the AP reports. Senate leaders could try to revise it or strip the iffy parts from the package. Otherwise, the provision could be challenged during floor votes, requiring a 60-vote threshold to keep it—a tall order in the narrowly split 100-member Senate. Democrats are unified against the bill.
  • The provision cracks down on states’ use of health care provider taxes to collect Medicaid funding, ABC News reports. The House-passed bill would freeze the provider taxes at current levels, while the Senate proposal goes deeper by reducing the tax that some states are able to impose.
  • Republicans scrambled to respond, some politically attacking the nonpartisan parliamentarian, while Democrats said her decision would prove devastating to the GOP package. Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said the GOP proposal would have been as much as a $250 billion cut to the health care program, “massive Medicaid cuts that hurt kids, seniors, Americans with disabilities, and working families.”
  • Some Republicans even called for challenging, or firing, the parliamentarian, who has been on the job since 2012 as the chief arbiter of the chamber’s historic and often complicated rules. But GOP leaders had already been struggling to rally support for the change. Several GOP senators warn it would harm rural hospitals that depend on the funds. Hospital organizations have been warning it could wipe out their balance sheets and lead to hospital closures.

The Parliamentarian has been busy with the OBBB….she also took on the oil lease provision of the bill….

Critics of Republican efforts to continue wrecking the planet celebrated some small victories after the U.S. Senate parliamentarian on Monday advised that multiple provisions cannot be passed as part of a megabill that only requires a simple majority.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough found that some GOP legislative proposals about offshore drilling and mandatory public land sales could not be included in the package due to the so-called Byrd Rule, which bars provisions considered “extraneous to the purpose of implementing budget resolution policies.”

Specifically, MacDonough axed a provision that deems offshore oil and gas projects as automatically compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), nullifying their environmental review processes. She also ruled against a proposal requiring offshore fossil fuel leases to be issued to successful bidders within 90 days after the sale, and a separate mandate for the sale of millions of acres of public land.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-public-lands

Read about all the problems (so far) with the OBBB according to the Parliamentarian…

https://www.commondreams.org/news/senate-parliamentarian-2672439563

This ought to chap Donny’s ass.

Do tell…..what changes will be made?

Will Donny try to flex his wimpy muscles?

Will the MAGA worshipers find a way to save Donny’s baby?

Is the bill dead until after the 4th of July break?

Where will it go….do tell.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”