Thoughts for the Day, June 30, 2025: An ambush in Idaho and unsportsmanlike conduct in a youth travel baseball game.

Two families and their friends and co-workers forever changed.

Our first responders are at risk every day. This ambush is gut wrenching.

Per multiple sources. firefighters were responding to a blaze in the panhandle of Idaho when the shooting happened. A gunman deliberately started a wildfire in a rugged mountain area of Idaho and then shot at the firefighters who responded, killing two and injuring another on Sunday afternoon, in what the local sheriff described as a “total ambush.”

Law enforcement officers exchanged fire with the gunman while the wildfire burned. Officials later found the body of a male suspect on the mountain with a firearm nearby, Sheriff Robert Norris of Kootenai County said at a news conference on Sunday night. The authorities said they believed the suspect had acted alone, but they did not release any information about his identity or motives.

“This was a total ambush,” Sheriff Norris said. “These firefighters did not have a chance.” The body of a suspect was recovered on Sunday evening.

We can never forget the risk our first responders put themselves in every day.

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Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers

It was a special night at Comerica Park as the Tigers shutout the Twins 3-0 on two hits in the nationally televised game before a sold-out stadium. Tarik Skubal put on a show as he struck out 13 in seven innings with 8 of the strikeouts coming in a row in his first time through the Twins batting order. It was his tenth win in a row. He leads the American League in wins, strikeouts and WHIP and is fifth in ERA. At the halfway point of the season, he is the early favorite to win the CY Young Award.

With the win the Tigers have an 11and ½ game lead in the Central Division on the Guardians who the Tigers play Fourth of July weekend.

The Tigers have the best record in the American League and are tied with the Dodgers for the best record in baseball at 53-32 in 2025. Going back to the midpoint of the 2024 season, the Tiger are 102-64 record over their last 166 games which is the best record in baseball over that period.

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The Big Beautiful Bill

As of this writing, the Senate has not passed its version of the “Big Beautiful Bill”. Per multiple sources, the Senate version of the legislation would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That could cause problems in the House, which barely approved a cheaper version. The House must give final approval to the measure, and the far-right House Freedom Caucus said the Senate’s version was “not what we agreed to.”

Analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that new senate version of the legislation would make far deeper cuts and lead to more people becoming uninsured than previous proposals. According to the report published late Saturday night, the legislation would mean 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034. 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.

The fresh estimates make official what many analysts had already predicted, and some Republican lawmakers had feared. The size and scope of the health care cuts in the bill, particularly from Medicaid, have been hotly debated, with fiscal hawks pressing for bigger reductions and other Republicans resisting them as they consider the impact on their constituents and health providers in their districts and states.

It is immoral that the cuts in Medicaid are the primary funding source in the bill to cover the tax cuts which primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans. This bill is big, but it is not beautiful.

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Don’t mess with Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill

Per multiple media sources. Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election next year, a day after President Trump threatened to back a primary challenger against him because Mr. Tillis opposed Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”.

In a statement, Tillis said he was looking forward “to having the pure freedom to call the balls and strikes as I see fit and representing the great people of North Carolina to the best of my ability” in his remaining time in Congress…In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species…What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding is not there anymore?...It is inescapable that this bill in its current form will betray the very promise that Donald J. Trump made in the Oval Office, or in the cabinet room, when I was there,” This is my Quote of the Day.

The threat of being primaried is the weapon that Trump holds over every Republican in congress. Trump uses it to keep the congressional members in line and support his programs, just like a mafia don. Tillis is just one of a growing list of Republican congressional members who have decided that fighting Trump is not worth the effort it takes.

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Consistently non-transparent

One thing you can count on is the State of Michigan government leaders will take every opportunity to work in secrecy and keep the taxpayers in the dark.

Per Bridge Michigan, members of the Michigan State Capitol Commission last Monday unanimously approved a “critical infrastructure” security upgrade at the building but would not say what the project is — or how much it will cost taxpayers. “The recommendation was of the type that, if it were publicly known, it would be rendered useless as a security measure,” William Kandler, commission chair, told reporters after the vote. In declining to provide any public information about the security project, Kandler said he was acting in line with advice from the commission’s legal counsel, the Department of Attorney General, which also did not immediately respond to a Bridge request for comment.

House and Senate leaders — as well as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office — are aware of the pending changes and are “the people who most likely would be protected by what we’re talking about.”

Transparency advocates are now questioning the legality of the decision. The Michigan Constitution specifies that “all financial records … and other reports of public money shall be public records open to inspection.”

It is embarrassing that we continue to rank 49 out of 50 states in transparency and the governor, the AG, and the legislature continue to drop the ball. What makes it worse is that most of the current members of our state government campaigned to improve transparency. Neither party wants to do anything about it once they are in a position of power.

If it wasn’t for Bridge Michigan, I would really be in the dark about our illustrious state government.

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Onion and Video of the Day

The following happened in a youth baseball game. In all my years of umpiring, I have never seen anything like this where an unsuspecting catcher was blasted by a member of the opposing team when there was no play at the plate. This was done by a young player probably from a 10 and under league. Somewhere along the line, the player was taught that it was OK to blast someone if they were in the baseline. It makes me sick.

If I had been umpiring this game, I would have immediately ejected the player and forfeited the game to the team of the catcher who was hurt. Here is my Video of the Day.

https://m.facebook.com/watch/4228494124100986

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Orchid of the Day: Tarik Skubal. It was a masterful pitching performance by him on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. He is a big-time player who performs bigger under the bright lights of national television. Through the first half of the year, he is making his case for another Cy Young Award.

Quote of the Day: See above from Senator Thom Tillis under Don’t Mess with Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill.

Onion of the Day: The travel baseball player who unloaded on an unsuspecting catcher. See the above story under Onion and Video of the Day

Question of the Day: What is an appropriate discipline for the player and coaches of the team who ran over the unsuspecting catcher and caused serious injury?

Lyrics of the Day: Well, I spent a lifetime lookin' for you.
Single bars and good time lovers were never true. Playin' a fool's game, hopin' to win. And tellin' those sweet lies and losin' again.

If you think you know the lyrics send me your answer in the comments section of the blog.

Answer to the Lyrics of the Day for June 22, 2025: I Heard it in a Love Song by the Marshall Tucker Band

Video of the Day: See above under Onion and Video of the