already convinced
of the conspiracy will
likely be unmoved

In the article, No, Chemtrails Are Not Real or Causing Floods, E.P.A. Says By Maxine Joselow in the New York Times, Ms. Joselow opens with:

No, chemtrails are not real, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday, in a notable instance of the Trump administration debunking a conspiracy theory that gained traction amid catastrophic flooding in Central Texas.

For decades, scientists have sought to shut down the chemtrails conspiracy theory, which asserts that the federal government is spraying harmful chemicals into the sky to control the weather, population or food supply. On Thursday, their efforts got a major boost from an unexpected source: two new E.P.A. websites that seek to “provide clear, science-based information” on chemtrail claims as well as on geoengineering, or efforts to intentionally alter Earth’s climate.

But she closes with:

Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University, said the E.P.A.’s new sites “appear to be a reasonable effort to give people the facts they need to recognize that chemtrails claims lack any scientific basis.” Still, he said, “those already convinced of the conspiracy will likely be unmoved. Instead, they’ll probably just conclude that the E.P.A. is in on the coverup.”

As the King says the Duke in the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

“Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?”

remember always
that all of us are descended
from those immigrants

Adapted from Remarks to the Daughters of the American Revolution, April 21, 1938, Washington, D.C. by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he said:

Remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

And I am particularly glad to know that today you are making this fine appeal to the youth of America. The importance to this rising generation, to our sons and grandsons, and great grandsons, we cannot over-estimate; the importance of what we are doing this year, in our own generation, to keep alive the spirit of American democracy, the spirit of opportunity, the kind of a spirit that has led us as a nation, not in a small group but as a nation, to meet the very great problems of the past.

We look for a younger generation that is going to be more American than we are. We are doing the best that we can, and yet we can do better than that, we can do more than that:

Let’s say that again … out loud maybe.

We cannot over-estimate;

the importance of what we are doing this year,

in our own generation,

to keep alive the spirit of American democracy,

the spirit of opportunity,

the kind of a spirit that has led us as a nation,

not in a small group but as a nation,

to meet the very great problems of the past.

We look for a younger generation that is going to be more American than we are.

We are doing the best that we can, and yet we can do better than that, we can do more than that:

each generation
so far, has been blessed, with chance
to conduct itself …

I want not only to join with you in an expression of thankfulness for the nation’s mighty past, but to join with you in expressing the resolution that we of to-day will strive in our deeds to rise level to those deeds which in the past made up the nation’s greatness.

Each generation so far, in this country, has been blessed, first, with the chance to resolve, and to put into effect the resolution so as to conduct itself that the next generation in turn would have the opportunity to feel a like gratitude.

It is a good thing, on the Fourth of July and on all other occasions of national thanksgiving, for us to come together, and we have the right to express our pride in what our forefathers did, and our joy in the abundant greatness of this people.

We have the right to express those feelings, but we must not treat greatness achieved in the past as an excuse for our failing to do decent work in the present, instead of a spur to make us strive in our turn to do the work that lies right at hand.

If we so treat it we show ourselves unworthy to come here and celebrate the historic past of the nation.

In 1861, when Lincoln called to arms you men of the great war, how did you show your loyalty to the men of 1776, to the spirit of ’76? You showed it by the way in which your hearts leaped to the performance of the task that was ready in those days.

President Theodore Roosevelt on July 4, 1903.

Each generation so far, in this country, has been blessed, first, with the chance to resolve, and to put into effect the resolution so as to conduct itself that the next generation in turn would have the opportunity to feel a like gratitude.

Each generation so far …

So far …

Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

We must not treat greatness achieved in the past as an excuse for our failing to do decent work in the present, instead of a spur to make us strive in our turn to do the work that lies right at hand.

this will reduce the
deficit, not increase it …
that is simply false

Three times in the past half-century, Republicans have enacted large tax cuts that necessitated significant increases in federal borrowing. Each time they insisted the cuts would drive economic growth, even claiming that the expansion would be so large that the government would collect more tax revenue. Each time, they’ve been proved wrong.

Mr. Trump’s bill would be the fourth iteration of this failed experiment, and some Republicans are still retailing the same fantasies about the consequences. “This will reduce the deficit, not increase it,” Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate majority leader, said last week. That is simply false.

The expected increase in the debt is particularly absurd because the government would borrow much of the money from the same people who got the biggest tax cuts from the bill. Roughly half of the government’s debt typically is sold to American investors, and those investors are disproportionately affluent. When the government borrows from them rather than raising taxes, it is getting the same money from the same people on less favorable terms. Instead of taxing the rich, the government pays them interest.

From The National Debt Is Already Causing Bigger Problems Than People Realize by THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD in an opinion piece on June 39, 2025.

The expected increase in the debt is particularly absurd!

I am also struck by the phrase, That is simply false.

In my day, that was called … a lie.

Somewhat along the lines of, we are only departing gang members and drug dealers.

And telling a lie was considered bad.

Bad to tell it.

Worse to get caught telling it.

Today … who cares.

But why no one cares, is beyond me.