All You Need To Know About The 'Big, Beautiful Abomination' - And Why It Must Be Slain In The House

 In my June 19th post I already had sized up the atrocity misnamed "the big, beautiful bill" which has just passed the Senate - thanks to cowards like Sen. Lisa Murkowski. She, who put her own state of Alaska's interest above those of the country. See e.g.

Murkowski Casts Decisive Vote for Trump Policy Bill, Making an ‘Agonizing’ Choice - The New York Times

As I noted in my earlier post about this travesty:

"This vile bill which passed the House and is currently in the Senate, would require states to pay 75% of the cost to administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which offers low-income people a monthly allowance to purchase food.

Currently, the federal government splits the cost evenly with states. If the ratio shifted, Colorado would have to come up with an additional $47 million to fund the workers at county human services departments who determine SNAP eligibility.

The bill, backed by President Donald Trump, would also require states to start paying a share of the food benefits themselves. The state estimates it could have to come up with anywhere from $130 million to $259 million annually to pay its share, depending on the language in the final bill.

Colorado can’t come up with that amount of cash, particularly given the state’s constitutional limits on raising taxes, Polis — a Democrat — and 10 people working in human services and agriculture said in the letter. State lawmakers had to close a $1.2 billion budget hole for the upcoming fiscal year, and warned that Colorado could face an even bigger gap next year, with fewer options to fill it."

But even that barely exposes the hell ordinary Americans will have to endure just to get enough SNAP benefits to avoid nutritional deficiencies in their kids.  The key lies in the administrative burdens the Repukes are imposing which are elaborated in John Oliver's recent show:

John Oliver on Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’: ‘Death by a thousand cuts’ | John Oliver | The Guardian

Basically, if one doesn't complete the online forms in a timely fashion and fulfill all related demands, food stamps will be cut - same goes for Medicaid benefits.

Now we go to other voices on this ghastly perfidy which essentially insults and spits on the graves of all the soldiers who fought for our freedoms, whether at Iwo Jima, Corregidor, Buna Gona, Utah Beach at Normandy, or Belleau Wood.

From Ezra Klein:

Opinion | The Disaster That Just Passed the Senate - The New York Times

"This bill is a bad piece of legislation — trillions of dollars in tax cuts, very much tilted toward the rich, with savage cuts to Medicaid, nutrition assistance and green energy. Even with those cuts, we can expect more than $3 trillion to be added to the national debt over 10 years. And befitting a policy like that, the bill is hugely unpopular: A poll from late June found nearly two-to-one opposition to the bill. Vulnerable Republicans do not seem excited to run on the wreckage it’s going to create.

But bad policy only matters if people know about it, and a lot of people don’t. Those of us hearing about this bill — even those of us covering it — can’t keep the whole package in mind. The Times has a great list of nearly all the provisions, and a lot of them would be major policy fights on their own. But in part because of that — and because the Trump administration is flooding the zone with so many other major policy fights — it has been hard to focus attention on what is passing and what can actually be done about it.

From Robert Reich:

Economic Policy | Republicans

The Worst Bill in History

by Robert Reich | June 30, 2025 - 5:58am | permalink

— from Robert Reich's Substack

Friends,

One of my objectives in this daily letter is to equip you with the facts you need. As the Senate approaches a vote on Trump’s giant “big beautiful” tax and budget bill, I want to be as clear as possible about it.

First, it will cost a budget-busting $3.3 trillion. According to new estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Senate bill would add at least $3.3 trillion to the already out-of-control national debt over a decade. That’s nearly $1 trillion more than the House-passed version.

Second, it will cause 11.8 million Americans to lose their health coverage. The Senate version would result in even deeper cuts in federal support for health insurance, and more Americans losing coverage, than the House version. Federal spending on Medicaid, Medicare, and Obamacare would be reduced by more than $1.1 trillion over that period — with more than $1 trillion of those cuts coming from Medicaid alone.

All told, this will leave 11.8 million more Americans uninsured by 2034.

Third, it will cut food stamps and other nutrition assistance for lower-income Americans. According to the CBO, the legislation will not only cut Medicaid by about 18 percent, it will cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) by roughly 20 percent. These cuts will constitute the most dramatic reductions in safety net spending in modern U.S. history.

Fourth, it will overwhelmingly benefit the rich and big corporations. The CBO projects that those in the bottom tenth of the income distribution will end up poorer, while the top tenth will be substantially richer.

The bill also makes permanent the business tax cuts from the 2017 legislation, further benefiting the largest corporations.

Finally, it will not help the economy. Trickle-down economics has proven to be a cruel hoax. Over the last 50 years, Congress has passed four major bills that cut taxes: the 1981 Reagan tax cuts; the 2001 and 2003 George W. Bush tax cuts; and the 2017 Trump tax cuts. Each time, the same three arguments were made in favor of the tax cuts: (1) They’d pay for themselves. (2) They’d supercharge economic growth. (3) They’d benefit everyone.

Donald Trump | Economic Policy | Fascism

Trump’s Big Ugly Bill Is Fascism in Writing

by Robert Reich | July 4, 2025 - 6:02am | permalink

— from Robert Reich's Substack

President Donald Trump’s 940-page Big Ugly Bill was passed today by the House and is now on the way to the White House for Trump’s signature.

It is a disgrace. It takes more than $1 trillion out of Medicaid—leaving about 12 million Americans without insurance by 2034—and slashes Food Stamps, all to give a giant tax cut to wealthy Americans.

It establishes an anti-immigrant police state in America, replete with a standing army of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and a gulag of detention facilities that will transform ICE into the most heavily funded law enforcement agency in the government.

It will increase the already-bloated deficit by $3.4 trillion.

It’s also disgraceful because of how it came to be.

» article continues...

From WaPo Columnist Catherine Rampell:

Opinion | GOP tax bill is a big, fat warning sign to bond market - The Washington Post

There are many unpopular features in the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill, including draconian cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, higher energy prices and trillions of dollars in additional debt. Both Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump seem to realize this, given that they’re jamming the bill through with little time for the media (and, by extension, voters) to catch up to what’s in it.

They’ve also spent recent weeks smearing the refs, including the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation, the professionals tasked with crunching numbers on the bill’s consequences. And on Sunday, Republicans hid from the Senate parliamentarian to avoid hearing her latest rulings about the cost of their bill.

On Monday, GOP lawmakers went a step further. As they had previously signaled they might do, they voted to stop pretending to care about what the bill costs or what the parliamentarian rules. Instead, they simply declared huge chunks of it to be free. Here’s how:

The package’s tax provisions alone would cost, on net, $4.5 trillion over the next decade. But Republicans said, “Eh, most of that tax package [about $3.8 trillion of it] shouldn’t really count as costing anything.”

That’s because Republican lawmakers had passed similar provisions in 2017, which are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. Republicans argue that Americans got used to having that part of the tax code around. So extending these lower tax rates wouldn’t, you know, feel different.

As I’ve explained before, this is not how budgets work. It’s like saying renewing your Netflix subscription should count as free, because you got used to having the streaming service already. Or each time you buy another Starbucks coffee, it doesn’t cost you anything, because you’ve enjoyed Frappuccinos before. Or if your current car lease expires, getting a new one is now complimentary, because you already got used to the convenience of having a car.

Under this logic, it doesn’t matter if you’ve already allotted every penny of next week’s paycheck to other expenses (as Congress has). You don’t need to make room in your budget to pay for these goodies because you’ve gotten used to them.

The reason we’re discussing these arcane accounting acrobatics is that when Republicans first passed their regressive tax-cut package in 2017, they deliberately scheduled their tax cuts to “turn off” early, in 2025, rather than last forever. They did this to make the cost of what they were doing look smaller. What to do when those tax cuts expired — and how to pay for them — would be tomorrow’s problem.

But the tide might be turning. In May, Moody’s, the last outstanding major credit agency that had still considered U.S. debt to be effectively riskless, finally downgraded it. Moody’s specifically cited the expectation that Congress would extend these costly tax cuts — the ones that senators are calling “free” — as a reason for its decision.

From Other Voices:

Donald Trump | Economic Policy

‘Massive Blow’: Analyst Reveals How Trump’s Budget Bill Would Hurt His Base the Most

by Ailia Zehra | July 2, 2025 - 5:29am | permalink

— from The Hartmann Report

As Republican lawmakers near final approval of President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” experts warn that his core supporters will feel its impact most acutely.

An analysis published in The New York Times on Tuesday highlighted concerns that the sweeping fiscal package disproportionately benefits the wealthy while imposing sharp social safety net cuts on working-class and rural Republicans — the very demographic that forms Trump’s foundation.

Analysts quoted in the report emphasize that Trump's base, particularly rural residents of less-educated, lower-income MAGA-voting communities “stand to bear the brunt of its negative consequences."

Bobby Kogan of the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress told the Times it was “the biggest cut to programs for low‑income Americans ever,” warning the bill will decimate supports like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps).

» article continues...

And:

Economic Policy | Republicans

Not Trump’s Baby: The “Big, Beautiful” Bill’s Father Is Really Grover Norquist

by Heather Digby Parton | July 2, 2025 - 4:58am | permalink

— from Salon

People think that Donald Trump is responsible for blowing up the democratic system of checks and balances, but he was actually a late comer to that game. It was establishment Republicans like former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also known as the “gravedigger of democracy,” who can take credit for that. From the moment he became the Republican minority leader in 2007, he laid out the roadmap for the modern GOP to achieve its goals by throwing bipartisanship on the trash heap and setting it on fire. As minority leader, McConnell believed in one thing: Obstruction. And when the GOP attained the majority, he pushed through the Republican agenda by any means necessary — norms, rules, even laws be damned.

Over the years, McConnell ended up having his differences with Trump. But this past week, as the Senate grappled with the bloated “big, beautiful bill” under Trump’s arbitrary July 4 deadline, McConnell shared with his Senate colleagues a bit of tactical wisdom he’d learned over the years. Asked about the danger of massive cuts to vital government programs to their reelection prospects, McConnell reassured both his party and the American people by saying, “they’ll get over it.”

» article continues...

And:Donald Trump

Trump Lacks Basic Understanding of What His Budget Bill Would Actually Do: Report

by Ailia Zehra | July 3, 2025 - 5:22am | permalink

— from Alternet

President Donald Trump appeared to misjudge the effects of his “Big, Beautiful Bill” on Medicaid on Wednesday, even as the legislation advances.

NOTUS reported that Trump appeared unclear about the bill’s actual impact during a White House meeting on Wednesday with moderate Republicans and members of the Main Street Caucus.

According to three individuals present, he asserted that Republicans should avoid changing three programs ahead of upcoming elections: “Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”

“But we’re touching Medicaid in this bill,” one member pushed back directly, per the report.

» article continues...

The time now is for ANY House Reeps with a semblance  of spine to come to the aid of their country - which means ignoring  Captain Bonespurs bluster and threats and slaying this beast one time.  The future of this nation is riding on it, and no, that ain't histrionics - not if you seriously read and processed the various contributions in this post.  Let's hope it happens by July 4th so we have a real Independence Day - from Trump's America- Wrecking Abomination

Answers To Basic Mensa Logic Problems

These refer back to the original problems in my June 25 post:

• Three Basic Mensa Logic Problems
• 
  

1)This is straightforward. Obviously, a consecutive clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation of 60 degrees cancel each other. Then, rotating the triangle through 360 degrees clockwise simply turns it through a full circle - bringing it to its original position. Thus, the sketch:

replicates: (A), i.e. the same as the original orientation.

(2) This references a series of operations on a square whose top left corner is A, and the other corners (going clockwise) are: B, C and D. The operation sequence is: R2 M1 M3, where:

R2: rotation clockwise by 180 degrees

M1: Mirrors corners exactly through the midline of the square

M3: Mirrors two opposing corners in the opposite sense to M2

Performing operation R2 first causes the square to rotate so that 'A' ends up where C is in the original orientation. (Fig. 1(A)) Operation M1 then causes all the existing corners to be mirrored through the midline of the square. Thus, Fig 1 (B) shows the orientation after M1.

The last operation, M3, mirrors two opposing diagonal corners: from top right to bottom left (e.g. opposite to the sense of M2) This will yield the result shown in Fig. 2 which conforms to a representation DABC.

(3) The next step in the sequence is easy to figure out once one identifies the key components of the previous sequence of 4 and how they are changing. This is in the direction of increasing white squares and reducing the orange. Since the algorithmic sequence requires at least two whites for the next step, this automatically eliminates options (A), (C) and (D), leaving (B).

Solutions to Difficult Partial Differential Equations (Pt. 2)

 We are given the partial differential equation:    

¶  u/ ¶ t   =   c ²   [¶ ² u/ ¶ x² ]

with u = u(x, t)

Such that 0 <  x <  ℓ   and t > 0

is used when considering a perfectly insulated rod of length (with no lateral heat loss) We include the initial and end conditions for the rod:  u(0, t) = u(ℓ  , t)    

And: u (x, 0) = f(x)

Where u represents the temperature of the rod as a function of position x.  Obtain the solutions in terms of Fourier series for:

1) u( x, 0) = f(x)

and:

2) u(x, t) =  u(ℓ, t) 

Hint: Use a variables separable method such that:

u(x, t) = X(x)  T (t)

So that:  ¶ ² u/ ¶ x²  =  X''  T

And:   X T' =  =    c ²  X''  T 

Solution:

From the given initial conditions we can write the two equations:

T'  -   c ²  k  = 0   and:  X'' - k X = 0

From the given initial conditions we can write:

u(0, t) = X(0) T(t) = 0  Þ   X(0) = 0

u(ℓ, t)   =  X(ℓ) T(t)  = 0  Þ   X(ℓ) = 0

But, we cannot have X, T and k identically 0, so we choose: 

k  =   - r ²

   And:  X(x)  =  A cos ( r x)  +  B sin  ( r x)

But, X(x) = 0 Þ   A =  (0)

And:  X(x)  =   B sin  ( r x)     B ≠  0

Further:   X(ℓ) = 0   Þ  B sin  ( r ℓ) = 0     (B ≠  0)

Now let:  r =    n p /  ℓ   (For n = 1, 2.....)    And take B = 1, then:

X _n (x)    =   sin (n p x  / ℓ )    Where  X _n (x)  denotes many solns.

Going now to the 2nd equation: 

(With  k  =   - r ² ):

T'  +   c ²  r ² T = 0

Þ   T(t) = a exp (- c ²  r ² t )   

r ² =    n ² p ²  /  ℓ ²    =  l_n²    (For n = 1, 2.....) 

Then:  T_n(t) = a exp (- c ²  l_n²  t )   

And:  

u_n(x, t) =  X _n (x) T_n(t) = 

å^¥ _n=1  a n sin (nx p / ℓ )  exp (- c ²  l_n²  t )   

But (from condition 1):   

u( x, 0) = f(x) =  å^¥ _n=1  a n sin (nx p / ℓ ) 

Where:   _a n   =  2/ℓ  ò ℓ ₀   f(x) sin (np / ℓ ) x dx

( n = 1, 2, 3.....) 

 

The Vera Rubin Observatory Unveils New Astronomical Frontiers With A New Kind Of Telescope

 At last we're seeing the first images from the land-based Vera Rubin Observatory, after years of effort and frantic last-minute fixes that pushed the new observatory to completion. This has been reported in a new alert in the most recent email update from the American Astronomical Society - some of which I share in this post.

The night sky dazzles over Rubin Observatory in this shot from October 2024. The Milky Way sprawls overhead in the waning light of sunset. Venus shines brightly on the left, 

No, this telescope isn't out in space like the James Webb telescope.  The newly constructed Vera C. Rubin Observatory lies at the  summit of Cerro Pachón. The remote Chilean mountain is home to fatigued yet focused scientists who regularly gather in the observatory’s control room. They’ve been monitoring the systems around the 8.4-meter telescope while waiting to troubleshoot a problem: The telescope’s camera is overheating. It's only May, just weeks before the observatory is set to release its first images to the public.

Those images have since been unveiled during a June 23rd “first look” event, are just the beginning. Every three nights for the next 10 years, the fast-moving and unprecedentedly sensitive telescope will complete a scan of the Southern Hemisphere’s sky, generating 60 million gigabytes of data. Named for the astronomer Vera Rubin - well known for her discovery of firm evidence for dark matter - the observatory will generate survey images that consist of exposures of 15 or 30 seconds, using six filters to cover the full visible range as well as near-infrared wavelengths (330–1080 nanometers).

Eventually, those scans will help create a time-lapse “movie” of the universe known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Its  goal will include demystifying dark matter and dark energy, catching fast-moving or ever-changing objects in the night sky, and mapping the universe around us.

However, taking these initial images has been no small feat. Since construction began in 2015, highly customized components built in labs around the world have been coming together on the remote mountaintop, with an array of  technical problems having to be solved on-site.

In the words of Fernanda Urrutia, an astrophysicist working on Rubin’s education and public outreach team:

“The last month was a crazy month, we're working very hard.”  

This was soon after the AAS reporter arrived at the summit, noting:

 "The scientists’ work during my visit was focused on trying to fix the cooling systems for the Rubin digital camera, the largest in the world. At the same time shutting down the camera provides  great opportunity to conduct engineering tests which the teams can't do while actively observing the sky. Admitted Kevin Fanning, a member of the science and camera teams 'Admittedly there isn't a good understanding of the situation today.'"

The AAS reporter goes on:

"Nevertheless neither he or other members are bogged down by the uncertainty. What they do know is that different parts of the camera need to be kept at different temperatures. If any of their respective cooling systems malfunction, the camera can overheat relatively quickly. So whenever on-site scientists see the camera temperature climbing – even as the outside temperature drops in the middle of the night- they’re quick to shut it down an begin problem solving."

 

                  The 3-mirror design maximizes image quality and field of view.

      The 30-m high dome protects the telescope during the day, regulates temperature at night (credit: Herman Stockebrand/ NSF/ Rubin Observatory 

We're informed that by evening, the temperature graphs on the screens in the summit control room stabilized and engineers established a plan for the night. They wanted to wait until the outside temperatures dropped again before operating the camera, to determine if the cold air outside is responsible for the cooling system’s malfunction. This test was expected to be a slow one, and some of the observing scientists settled around to play Uno as night fell on the mountain.

For months before the First Look press conference, scientists had been hard at work in Rubin’s summit control room, making sure the telescope (pictured on their screen below) was ready to begin its 10-year survey of the cosmos.
                                                                           

                                  Camera team at Vera Rubin Observatory

The cooling systems were always “the big pickle” for engineers working on the LSST Camera, in the parlance of research engineer Claire Juramy (French National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics). Different parts of the camera needed to be kept at different temperatures. If any of their separate cooling systems malfunctioned, the camera could overheat relatively quickly. So, when on-site scientists saw the camera’s temperature climbing even as the outside air temperature dropped in the middle of the night, they were quick to shut it down and start problem-solving

              A small section of the Virgo galaxy cluster, about 50 million light-years away. In the foreground,                                    bright stars in our own galaxy  (NSF / DOE / Vera C. Rubin Observatory)

The AAS  News reporter again:

"But behind us, the many graphs on screen suggest the outside temperature is not falling at all — it's getting hotter. “Weather forecasts for mountaintops are notoriously difficult to do,” Fanning explains."

"As it became clear they would have to wait another night to complete the test, the scientists recount the camera’s installation in March, when they had to place the camera at just the right place relative to the primary and secondary mirrors to capture in-focus images."

 “By dead reckoning, we placed this camera within maybe three millimeters [off where it should be],” says Robert Lupton, who works with scientific software at Rubin as the LSST’s pipeline scientist. "

We then learn that due to the very wide (3.5 degrees) field of view, if the camera is just slightly out of place, the engineering images turn up donuts of light where there should be stars. Commissioning images provided the information needed to tweak the camera’s placement until it was just right.

                                Another image of the Milky Way from the Rubin telescope.

Slow and steady seems to do well as a guiding principle for the observatory. The same principle applies to fixing the cooling system, according to Aaron Roodman (Stanford University), who leads the camera team.  In his workds;

“Take a step and then discuss,” 

He advises the others via video call the next morning as they formulate a new plan.

It turns out that cold night air was involved. In the following weeks, the team further insulated the cooling systems and explored heating options to keep parts of the camera warm on cold nights. The fixes bring the observatory one step closer to the first-look images seen in this post.

Now, those images showcase the observatory’s potential. Wide fields that are an astounding 3.5° across focus on patches of sky full of galaxy clusters and nebulae, showing not only how deeply the camera can gaze into the universe but also giving a taste of how many objects there still are to discover and understand. The full survey of the Southern Hemisphere sky is slated to begin later this year.

In Chile, the celebrations are just one more step in the continuing collaborative process of getting the high-profile observatory up and running.

                   Another small part of the Virgo cluster. Visible are two prominent spiral galaxies (lower right), three merging galaxies (upper right), several groups of more distant galaxies, many stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, and more.  NSF / DOE / Vera C. Rubin Observatory


See Also:

First Glimpse of a Cotton Candy Nebula: New Images from Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Rubin Observatory Takes a Wide View of Universe

And:

World's largest digital camera captures first astro imagery