qporit -- Quick Previews of Random Interesting Things
Sunday, June 29, 2025
LOWER COURT POWERS CURTAILED BY SCOTUS & GOP BBB BILL
The DDT GOP omni bill provides tax breaks to the rich, and reduces services for the less wealthy. It imposes conditions on recipients of Medicare that will remove many current participants from assistance.
Less well known or mentioned are provisions that attempt to restrict the power of the Courts to restrain the actions of the Executive Branch.
The bill is expected to reduce taxes significantly for rich Humans and big Corporations. That is expected to increase inflation and raise the deficit by $$$ trillions . There is some candy (tax breaks) for less wealthy Americans, but they have strings attached, and are not expected to significantly compensate for the services that are being eliminated.
Here is a link to a draft of the whole bill. The Senate is modifying it. If passed by the Senate, the bill goes back to the House.
Here is the text of the SCOTUS (6-3) decision curtailing the ability of lower court judges to block (except locally) implementation of Presidential orders they rule to be unconstitutional or unlawful: (6-3 = All 6 GOP appointed Justices concurring; all 3 Justices appointed by Democratic Presidents dissenting.)
TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ET AL.
v. CASA, INC., ET AL.
Open AI released today information about its new planned structure.
After several months of studying how to raise money to finance the development of AI, and a well-publicized lawsuit with Elon Musk, Open AI has changed its planned structure from going to a for profit company, to remaining a not-for-profit but one which controls a "Public Benefit Corporation" (PBC).
"In business, and only in United States corporate law, a benefit corporation (or in some states, a public benefit corporation - PBC) is a type of for-profit corporate entity whose goals include making a positive impact on society. "
The Kentucky Derby, first run in 1875, is the opening race of the Triple Crown. The 1¼‑mile race runs at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 3 - (The Kentucky Derby show starts in mid afternoon on NBC; the race itself begins about 7 p.m. ET -- NOTE: The race itself only lasts about 2 minutes, so do not tune in at 7:05!).
The Preakness (May 17) and Belmont Stakes (June 7) complete the series.
Since American Pharoah’s historic 2015 sweep and Justify’s repeat in 2018, no horse has worn the crown (won all three races).
(Ongoing improvements to training, track surfaces and veterinary oversight continue to try to improve the safety of the horses. I watched the Belmont in person some years ago. The horses are really working very very hard. It is not obvious how strenuous the race is, for the horses, when it is just watched on television.)
The signature drink for watching the Kentucky Derby is the Mint Julep.
THE MINT JULEP
Here's how you make a wicked MJ. (Note: Don't drive or ride a horse or operate heavy machinery after this; don't ingest with anything that will exceed your tolerance for total number of chemicals in the body!) Boil a little bit of water with some washed and dried, torn up, fresh, nice looking mint leaves, to create a strong mint tea and then put it in a cup . (Note: Mint leaves are not always that easy to get, and when you get a bunch, many leaves are often wilted, or blackened. It's important to select the best leaves even if that is only a fraction of the bunch of mint in the package.) Add quite a bit of sugar. (Optionally -- ideally, in fact -- some sugar could be replaced with a half jigger of a sweet liqueur like Cointreau, Drambuie, or Grand Marnier.) Add about a half jigger of a good Kentucky Bourbon. (After trying quite I few, I found that my favorite is definitely Maker's Mark.) Add this mixture with some additional torn up, fresh, nice looking mint leaves to ice in a crusher.
Crush the mixture of sweetened mint tea, and bourbon to make a tall glass worth of flavored crushed ice. Take a tall, chilled glass, add a long straw, fill the glass with the crushed ice, and then pour in a jigger more bourbon to fill up the cracks. Turn on the pre-race show, and enjoy it!
It's matter of taste what you eat with the drink, if anything. My own preference is Greek or similar appetizers.
Update - Final Order of Finish
18 Sovereignty (5/1)
8 Journalism (3/1)
21 Baeza (13/1)
Final Gambit
Owen Almighty
Citizen Bull
Neoequos
American Promise
Admire Daytona
Luxor Cafe
Burnham Square
Flying Mohawk
East Avenue
Publisher
Tiztastic
Render Judgment
Coal Battle
Sandman
Chunk of Gold
Horses - ordered by Number
1 Citizen Bull – Trained by: Bob Baffert; Owned by: SF Racing LLC et al. — 20‑1
2 Neoequos – Trained by: Saffie A. Joseph Jr.; Owned by: C2 Racing Stable LLC et al. — 30‑1
3 Final Gambit – Trained by: Brad H. Cox; Owned by: Juddmonte — 30‑1
5 American Promise – Trained by: D. Wayne Lukas; Owned by: BC Stables LLC — 30‑1
Here is a list of a few of the actions of the Trump
administration (#2) in the first hundred days and their likely consequences. It should be noted that all these actions are
quite public, and appear to be actions that the administration is proud of:
Cast doubt on vaccines
Measles cases and deaths are growing
Provided frequently changes in plans for tariffs, while
sharply raising them
Volatile stock market and rising prices
Anger among
former(?) trading partners
Loss of a stable supply chain
Possible contribution
to loss of US world economic leadership
Lots of lies and blaming Biden
Impossible to trust anything the White House says
Attacks on our allies
Possible contribution to loss of US world economic and
military leadership
Snatching people off the streets without due process
Danger to the rule of law
Danger
to the security of every citizen, and every tourist or visitor to the US
Deference to Russia: No tariffs; pre-negotiation concessions to
Russia for Ukraine war talks
Russia continues to bombard Ukraine,
despite “agreement” of Easter cease-fire, and despite Trump's promise to end the war by day one
The US loses
credibility
Europe
is in more danger and so is Taiwan
No progress in Gaza
Despite Trump's promise to end the war by day one
the fighting continues,
hostages are still being held,
and some hostages have died in captivity
Indiscriminate firing of government employees in many
areas
Loss of expertise
Loss of services in
Social security
Veterans’ services
Emergency
assistance (FEMA)
Weather
reporting
Protecting Civil
Rights
Detecting and
prosecuting fraud
Detecting and
prosecuting foreign interference
IRS
Maintaining the
nuclear arsenal
Sudden dismantling of USAID services
Loss of International good will
Illness and death for some
people who had been sustained by USAID
Cancelling research contracts in Universities and
research groups in government
Possible destruction of US
leadership in science and technology
In particular, a boost
to possible future Chinese world leadership
CONCLUSION: THE US HAS BECOME LESS PROSPEROUS, LESS SAFE,
LESS HEALTHY, LESS IMPORTANT, AND LESS HAPPY in just 100 days.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, W S! -- IT'S SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHDAY
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE is believed to have been born on this day in 1564. He is known to have died on this day in 1616.
(There's an actual record of his death. There's no record of his birth, but there is a record of his baptism, from which the date of his birth is assumed.)
He lived through a tumultuous period, writing some of the greatest plays and poetry ever written in English, (and probably just... ever written).
Some (just a few!) of his most revered plays are:
Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Romeo & Juliet (tragedies); a series of historical plays leading up to the reign of Queen Elizabeth; A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest (fantasies), and Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night (comedies).
This summer, the Public Theater will be presenting Twelfth Night free in NYC's Central Park Delacorte Theater (just renovated!).
THE PUBLIC THEATER: TWELFTH NIGHT - FREE IN CENTRAL PARK, NYC
Another great venue (also great workshops!) for Shakespearein New York is
THE RED BULL THEATER
https://www.redbulltheater.com/
Here's a list from Google (AI) and other sources, of some of the many venues around the US and the world that produce Shakespeare's plays:
Shakespeare's Globe (London, UK): This is a modern reconstruction of the original Globe, built in 1599, near the site of the original theater. It's an open-air theatre in the round, similar to the original and still hosts performances and tours.
Allen Elizabethan Theatre (Ashland, OR): This theater, part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, offers a replica of an Elizabethan-era theater.
The Old Globe (San Diego, CA): The Old Globe is a well-known theater company and venue that performs Shakespearean plays and offers educational programs, says Wikipedia.
Curtain Theatre (Austin, TX):This theater company focuses on classical plays, including Shakespeare, according to Wikipedia.
Globe of the Great Southwest (Odessa, TX):A dedicated Shakespearean theater in Odessa, TX.
Adams Shakespearean Theatre (Cedar City, UT):This theater is part of the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City, UT.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg (Williamsburg, VA): This theme park features a Globe Theatre replica for Shakespearean performances.
The Rose Playhouse (Twin Lake, MI): Part of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, The Rose Playhouse hosts Shakespearean plays and other theatrical productions.
The American Shakespeare Center in VA. (They also produce the Blackfriars' Shakespeare Conference every few years.) https://americanshakespearecenter.com/
Here is one of his sonnets. (notice that the imagery is interpretive of the deeper meanings of the poem).
SONNET 65 "SINCE BRASS..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4FRae1XRkI/
A performance of sonnet 65 with visual commentary.
In Shakespeare's sonnet 65, brass, rocks and steel are fragile, decaying with time, but love, art, beauty and poetry persist forever.
Here's an analysis of the sonnet:
SONNET 65 - ANALYSIS
