How's it going, America,
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Let's get into it:
There is so much horror in the news this week that I find myself sitting on my back porch, watching the sun play in the leaves, hearing birds, and hoping I catch sight of the floppy-eared bunny that has taken up residence in my backyard, not at all wanting to look at the news. This was the first week back at school this year 'round our neck of the woods, which was definitely more intriguing to me than much of what's been happening in the rest of the world, and now here we are with a weekend off, and I couldn't be more grateful for it.
Looking out at the broader world, it's easy to think our society is broken. A woman who admitted to killing her three young children has fans. Internet true crime conspiracy theorists have concocted dozens of other theories as to who really took their lives, without offering any evidence other than gut feelings. We're coming up on the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk's murder, and we're not even sure yet that the judge will allow the case to go to trial—that whole crew is back in court on Sept. 1.
Our American debt has risen over $40 trillion, which is a number I cannot even fathom. It turns out our national debt has doubled in less than 10 years. If that were any of us in our personal lives, we would be waiting for the ax to fall and the repo men to come take it all away. JD Vance has put his trust in Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, saying "he has had a very discreet plan, of course, supported by the president of the United States, to get the United States to a point where our economy is growing faster than our debt."
"And if you look," Vance said, "we are on track. So even though the debt is too high, even though we inherited this debt bomb from the Biden administration, we actually do have a plan to get the economy growing faster than the debt and that's the most important thing."
I don't know if that means the US is going to start moonlighting at 7-11 or what, but it sure makes me stressed out about my own credit card bills. It would be great if, as Bessent said, we can "grow" our way out of the debt. And while I'm no more of an economist than Ketanji Brown Jackson is a biologist, I think we'd better hurry it up. I know there was disgruntlement over tariffs and whatnot, but it seems like we've got to start raising some money somehow. I guess we can just leave it to the experts in the judiciary and the federal government—with a little luck we'll be just $80 trillion in debt by 2037.
Lindsay Clancy is still on trial today, I believe it's day 18. Yesterday the judge questioned the jury members individually, then released everyone and halted the trial for the day. We'll see what happens when they come back today. The women gathering around outside supporting the killer, taking selfies with her defense attorney, and saying they suffered from postpartum depression too makes me worried for their children. We used to abhor the killing of children. Now, in so many aspects of our culture, from abortion to trans to Lindsay Clancy, we just outright support it. Gruesome.
Libby