OUTDOOR MAINTENANCE EQUIPMENT DAY UPDATES

Tune Up Those Lawnmowers and Weed Whackers – but Leave The Vacuums Alone! That’s for ANOTHER Day!

-We must, unfortunately, start with the Big Bill O’Crap, which when we last left it was languishing in Senate committees with enormous pressures on individual Senators because of how massively awful the bill is and how overwhelmingly hated it is by the American people. In a sane world with decent political parties, the entire thing would have been torn up and a new bill would be drafted from the start that would respond to the actual needs of the country.

-But, we do not have two decent political parties. Indeed, it is hard to argue that we have a political party that at best lives (as it has for over 40 years) with one lone political and legislative goal: enrich the richest of the rich at literally any cost to the country. Add to that a faction of that party that only wishes to inflict harm on their imagined opponents and objects of fear and hatred as a pathetic way to feel good about themselves, and a leader who has somehow positioned himself to be worshipped and appeased at literally every turn – whose demand/wish is to sign what is likely to be the lone piece of major legislation he will sign in his second term – and apparently the decision was made to just grind out something, get it passed no matter what, and pray the populace gets too discouraged or forgetful to fight back at the ballot box.

-So, on Friday night (because that’s how proud Republicans really are about this) a revised Bill O’Crap was revised – one that, admittedly, had a number of the worst provisions struck down by the Senate Parliamentarian (including more or less legalizing silencers, saving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and holding some SNAP funding) – and the 930-plus page proposal has, amazingly, made other provisions worse.

-Most notably, Medicare cuts were increased from the MAGA House proposal to over $900 billion, the majority of food subsidies continued to be cut, and most grotesquely gives ICE over $40 billion, prompting ICE head choad Tom Homan to brag about being able to arrest even more people (and allowing for more detention centers like the one currently being built near the Everglades in Florida that the builder is cheerfully nicknaming “Alligator Auschwitz”).

-Last night, the Senate took several hours attempting to find enough votes to bring the bill to the floor – and Senate Majority Leader John Thune worked the backrooms to make it happen. A provision to sell tens of thousands of acres of Federal land was stricken from the bill to keep a number of red state Senators calmer. A reported fund to help mitigate some of the worst Medicare cuts was created, along with provisions to delay some of the worst cuts past the 2026 midterms.

-And the state of Alaska was literally exempted from all the Medicare cuts to keep Sen. Lisa Murkowski from voting against bringing the bill to the floor. In the end, the bill is now on the floor with a 51-49 vote (KY’s Rand Paul and NC’s Thom Tillis joining the Democrats, and WI’s Ron Johnson switching from “no” to “yes” to avoid Intern JD Vance to have to cast a tie-breaking vote for a procedure.

-The bill is not yet being debated, however, Pulling a page from Republicans, Democratic Senators began reading the bill on the floor in its entirety – a move that will delay debates and amendments until at least this afternoon. Formally, both sides have ten hours to debate the bill, along with filing amendments to change the bill, which will undoubtedly be used to further stretch the schedule. It is also quite likely the Parliamentarian will be called to rule on other provisions of the new Bill O’Crap to see what else can be taken out (credit, like it or not, going to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for leaning hard on the Parliamentarian) – all to try to keep pressure on Senators given the tiny margins and massive disgust towards the legislation.

-In other words, KEEP CALLING. All it may do in the end is solidify ownership of everything that happens on all Republicans, but that is not nothing (YES THERE WILL BE MIDTERMS – states run elections, not the Federal government, STOP) – and, crazier things have happened (remembering John McCain’s thumbs-down to save the Affordable Care Act), including a return of disgraced ex-President Elon Musk to trash the bill for its removal of green energy subsidies in a socia media post, so don’t stop.

-Because THIS JUST IN: North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, a NO on the budget and target of Trump social media posts, has announced he will not run for re-election, bringing a tight state into play (albeit with a savagely anti-democracy GOP establishment) for Senate contro of 2026.

-OK, now to the other bad thing that happened on Friday, the Supreme Court ruling on a federal court ruling that Trump and Stephen Miller needed to back off on an attempt to subvert if not overturn birthright citizenship with a federal injunction. A lot has been written and a lot of emotion flowing, from immigrant advocates and decent people lamenting the collapse of the Constitution itself to MAGAts letting their racist freak flags fly and Trump attempting to claim the ruling now lets him do everything from tax whoever he wants whenever he wants as much as he wants to declaring that Trump’s Schwantz is the biggest Presidential Schwantz Ever and must be worshipped by all 24/7/365.

-The truth, as you can guess, while still Not Good, is somewhere in the middle.

-First and foremost, every sane legal expert points out that THE CASE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP. AT ALL. The case was strictly about whether a Federal court could limit Presidential decrees or not. The birthright citizenship question was carefully and deliberately Not Discussed as part of this ruling. So on that score, the Constitution is standing.

-Next, then, is the question of Federal power. Indeed, many critics of SCOTUS – and they have a lot, deservedly so to put it mildly – pointed out that when executive orders were challenged that were issued by President Biden (most notably involving student loan forgiveness), these same judges ruled Biden’s orders did not have the rule of law and therefore could be limited or stopped by judges. Which made their decision to make this ruling tip towards Trump and allow him latitude for one of his proclamations, it caused real angst.

-Except … and this is where readers who have far more knowledge of legislation and the Constitution and the law than I to please correct me (and I will in subsequent Substacks) ... this ruling didn’t really do that, either. The qualifying term used in the ruling was that “Universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority” (emphasis mine).

-That is a rather important qualifier, because “likely” is not “does” (and it also is not “does not,” but you get my point), and leaves specific rulings wide to interpretation. And, in the end, this specific case was not struck down, but returned to the lower court, ostensibly to chew on that “likely” to see whether the provision can be enacted or not.

-So in essence, all the ruling really did was to take the question of what a judge can or can’t do and throw it back to the lower courts to decide. This is still bad for this case. Immediately, fears were raised that courts would need to decide on a literal case-by-case basis whether particular immigrants needed to be returned to the states (think Kilmar Abrego Garcia) – although several immigrant groups were ready for the ruling, and in a matter of hours changed their cases to make them class action cases that could potentially allow for blanket rulings to, in this case, slow or stop some deportations. That is a far more difficult legal bar to get over, and one that opens up even more cans of worms about class action cases that this SCOTUS aren’t fans of – but what it does is buy time.

-That time-buying is helpful for those of us who want the Constitution to be real since it has at least some semblance of protecting the document and what it means, but it also buys Trump enough delays to do a lot of what he has been doing without being caught or stopped without specific orders to do so – the “flood the zone” strategy we’ve heard too much of. But Trump gumming up the courts is something he has done for decades, so on some levels the rulings do not change the Trump status quo.

-What the ruling did seem to do, in a cynical but admittedly effective way, is to keep some power in the judiciary. Indeed, if there is one clear effect we can expect after this, is even more court cases and court rulings and court delays and court appeals are absolutely going to happen, giving us more ups and downs and, frustratingly, not limiting Trump at all from his Mad King rule.

-Again, this is one layman’s understanding of the course, so please correct if you are a reader that knows more about this stuff than me!

-In domestic political news, both Republicans and certain Democrats continue to cope with the upset victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City Mayoral primary. From the right, we get continued racism and ignorance, led by too-on-the-nose-named TN Rep. Andy Ogles – a guy who has had federal investigations into use of campaign funds and materials magically waived after proposing Trump be put on Mount Rushmore (yes, really). Ogles charmingly posted on social media a wish to have Mamdani denaturalized and deported for being a Muslim. Mamdani has also been attacked by Trump for being a Muslim and someone with naturally brown skin, because Trump.

-But some on the left – especially New York Democrats – are also chafing at his victory, appearing to cite interviews in which Mamdani is charged with supporting or not denouncing calls for an “intifada” in response to the war in Gaza, which the Anti-Defamation League has been working itself into a fury about. By most accounts, it does not appear Mamdani ever supported an intifada – in fact, NBC New York reports that despite ongoing concerns and the refusal of figures like Sen. Kirsten Gillenbrand and Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to endorse Mamdani, Mamdani “excelled” in getting the Jewish vote in the primary – even as ads attacking his position were broadcast in the waning days of the primary.

-The tumult has apparently convinced losing candidate Andrew Cuomo to back off of his promise not to run a third-party candidacy against Mamdani, at least for now. National Democrats are also getting criticism because of Mamdani’s massive support from voters under the age of 30 – a demographic that went to Trump in 2024 primarily through men in that age cohort – and questioning whether the party’s problems could be compounded with lukewarm support for Mamdani. (At least the Internet is on the case, with a parody Mamdani account on Bluesky set up where “Mamdani” celebrates the 1929 stock market crash, mocks the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, and praises Van Halen for replacing David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar.)

-There is also continuing arguments about Trump’s Iran bombing run. Experts continue to insist that at best, the runs will merely delay development of nuclear materials for months, with CNN going one step farther and reporting that the US did not, fact, use the so-called ‘bunker buster’ weapons in the runs.

-In response, Trump continues to attack the assessments because he must believe that Operation Midnight Thunder (CUE HAIR METAL RIFF) “OBLITERATED” Iran’s program, and is now also claiming Democrats “leaked” the reports of the attack not meeting its stated goal, which is odd because every Democrat noted last week that they were not briefed prior to the attack, and that a briefing to discuss the bombing immediately after it was completed was cancelled by the White House.

-With July 4 coming up, that holiday is likely not something most of us are looking forward to, especially if the Big Bill O’Crap is signed by Trump as he wishes. But as many who continue to organize the next waves of resistance – including rumblings that perhaps boycotts or even an attempt at a general strike may be coming in line – it will be vital to claim the opposition as being the patriots defending the Constitution and our neighbors. So I, for one, will be purchasing some flags and flying them proudly for just that reason. And we have calls to make to keep working to stop the BBOC and make those who vote for it choke on it politically. So keep the faith, take a break if you need to, throw some garage rock on the speakers, and be there for who needs you in the short term.

-Happy Chicago Pride!

-NEWS ON THIS DATE: In 1613, the Globe Theatre was destroyed by fire. In 1767, an import tax on tea and other goods was imposed on the American colonies by British Parliament. In 1956, Marilyn Monroe married Arthur Miller. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act passed the Senate. Also in 1964, the pilot episode of STAR TREK was approved by NBC. In 1974, Mikhail Baryshnikov defected to the United States. In 1995, the U.S. space shuttle docked with a Russian space station for the first time. In 2009, Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his financial crimes.

-DEBUTS ON THIS DATE: The Beatles charting in the United Kingdom (1963), The Harlem Cultural Festival (1969), The iPhone (2007).

-HAPPY BIRTHDAY: William James Mayo, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Nelson Eddy, Frank Loesser, Bernard Herrmann, Ruth Warrick, Ray Harryhausen, Robert Evans, Harmon Kilebrew, Little Eva, Claude Humphrey, Gary Busey, Richard Lewis, Fred Grandy, Ian Paice, Dan Dierdorf, Don Dokken, Colin Hay, Pedro Guerrero, Maria Conchita Alonso, Sharon Lawrence, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Matthew Weiner, Brian d’Arcy James, Samantha Smith, Nicole Sherzinger, Martin Truex Jr., Kawhi Leonard, and Jude Bellingham.

-REST IN PEACE/POWER: Henry Clay, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Fatty Arbuckle, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Chick Henderson, Jayne Mansfield, Tin-Tan, Bob Crane, Lowell George, Irving Wallace, Lana Turner, William Hickey, Allan Carr, Katharine Hepburn, Randy Walker, Joel Siegel, Carl Reiner, and Alan Arkin.

-FEED THE WORMS: Donald Rumsfeld bought it on this date.

-THIS DATE IN CULTURE: The number one novel in America on this date … in 2025, ATMOSPHERE by Taylor Jenkins Reid … in 2015, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins … in 2005, THE MERMAID CHAIR by Sue Monk Kidd … in 1995, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY by Robert James Waller … in 1985, SKELETON CREW by Stephen King … and in 1975, THE MONEYCHANGERS by Arthur Hailey.

-YOUR MUSICAL INTERLUDE: Happy Birthday to one half of Flight of the Conchords, Bret McKenzie!