🌞 Tickle your pickle – June 24 2022

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00am ET. 

The Lead: US Military Budget

credit: heritage

The United States has not declared war but you wouldn’t know it from the new military defense budget. The U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee approved a proposal to increase spending for the Department of Defense by $37 billion. That is in addition to the $813 billion that President Biden asked for. This brings the total 2023 military budget to $857.46 billion. 

Defense against WHO if the U.S. is not at war??? Congress has to vote to declare war! 

Last week the Senate approved a $45 billion increase. This $37 billion is new. And it comes from…Who knows? 

So what is included in that $37 billion?

Funding for five new ships, eight Boeing F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, five Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules planes, $1 billion for four Patriot missiles, $550 million to send to Ukraine and $2.5 billion to pay for higher fuel costs. It also includes a pay raise for the troops but only at 4.6%. That is pitiful when you consider inflation is currently at 8.5%. 

Last year the military budget was shocking when it came in at $778 billion, which was $25 billion more than the President asked for. 

This is just a reminder that the United States’ military budget is nearly three times that of China, which is the country with the second-biggest military budget. Despite all of this spending, the U.S. doesn’t even have the world’s largest military. It is the third-largest, behind China and India. 

Supreme Decisions

credit: ap

The Supreme Court decision regarding abortion is expected out today. As of this writing, we still don’t know the outcome. We do know that the Supreme Court ruled on firearms legislation and this ruling expands gun rights in the state of New York and elsewhere. 

The case was New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen. The rifle association was contesting the state’s law requiring that applicants demonstrate “proper cause” and “good moral character” to obtain a concealed-weapons permit. The court ruled that these rules violate the Second Amendment. 

It is interesting that the abortion case will decide if states can set their own laws around abortion while this ruling strikes down the states own laws around guns. The devil is in the details of each law of course but many believe that this ruling will bring about more expansive rights to gun ownership. This on a day that the Senate voted to pass firearm legislation which would bring about red-flaw laws, remove guns from people who are considered dangerous and expand background checks to include mental health records. 

Worth noting is the Wall Street Journal’s reminder that this ruling “reflects the triumph of originalism – the method championed by many conservatives that applies the Constitution according to the court’s determination of the text’s ‘original public meaning’ at the time it was adopted.”

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The Rise in School Violence

credit: nj.com

Experts say that violence in U.S. schools increased during the 2021-2022 school year. Administrators are taking the summer to figure out how to deal with this. 

This isn’t just a matter of school shootings. Experts say that there was also an increase in fights and other aggressive behavior amongst students. These things happened before the pandemic but not at this rate. 

According to the Associated Press, “a pandemic rule intended to improve air circulation had the unintended effect of inviting misbehavior. Teachers were not allowed to close and lock classroom doors, and groups of students who skipped class would roam the halls and burst into other classes in session.”

Schools are considering protocols from cooling off rooms to more school counselors to cope. They are also accepting the responsibility of the damage done by pandemic lockdowns. 

“What all kids need…is consistency and stability,” one expert said. “We could not provide that for them the whole year.”

Nantucket Pops The Top

credit: Washington times

Is it fair for men to be the only ones topless on the beach? The town of Nantucket doesn’t think so. The town voted to allow all humans to go topless this summer. 

This is a part of the Topfreedom movement, already hard fought for in places such as Ocean City, Maryland. If we are really going to promote gender equality, why should only one gender get to keep their nipples out on the beach? The U.S. could learn a thing or two from Europe where topless beaches are no cause for scandal. 

But in conservative Nantucket, this is considered very progressive. Many residents spoke out against it. Toplessness is not be formally allowed until the Massachusetts attorney general approves the boobs. 

News By The Numbers

18 feet. That is the size of the largest python ever discovered in the state of Florida where they are considered an invasive species. Nope, I'm running!

122. That is how many eggs that same python had in its abdomen when it was captured. Again, nope!  

56,059. That is how many lightning strikes were detected across California yesterday. 

30 years. That is how much prison time prosecutors are seeking for Ghislaine Maxwell. Her sentence hearing is on Tuesday.

What's Trending?

credit: disney

“Thor: Love & Thunder” is trending because the premier was yesterday and early reviews are in and very positive. 

Snoop is trending because of a new single released with Eminem called “From The D 2 The LBC.”

NBA Draft is trending because that happened. 

Roosevelt Room is trending because of images of President Biden holding very simplistic instructions at a recent meeting in the Roosevelt Room.