“On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Medicare, a health insurance program for elderly Americans, into law. At the bill-signing ceremony, which took place at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, former President Harry Truman was enrolled as Medicare’s first beneficiary and received the first Medicare card.

“The Medicare program, providing hospital and medical insurance for Americans age 65 or older, was signed into law as an amendment to the Social Security Act of 1935. Some 19 million people enrolled in Medicare when it went into effect in 1966.

“Medicaid, a state and federally funded program that offers health coverage to certain low-income people, was also signed into law by President Johnson on July 30, 1965, as an amendment to the Social Security Act.”

From https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

In an effort to help build civic awareness and to help celebrate Constitution Day, the Dept. of Political Science will be holding it’s first annual Constitution Bee on Friday, September 17, from 9-Noon, in the student center’s Black Box theater.

The event will feature teams from John Paul II Catholic high school.

Future years’ events will hopefully include high school students from all Pitt County high schools.

More details will be forthcoming as the event draws closer.

(From “The Onion”) HOOPESTON, IL: “Whether it’s baked into a tasty bread, popped in oil as a savory treat, or enjoyed fresh and right off the cob, sources from across the nation agreed Wednesday that, whatever differences they may have, Americans still grow themselves some mighty good-lookin’ corn.

““Regardless of which part of the country we come from or what we may be arguing about at the moment, we can all of us share in the belief that no one grows a taller, sweeter, or purdier stalk of corn than we do right here in the ol’ U-S-of-A,” said Illinois native Grant Hardway, 56, who reportedly joined together with millions of Americans as they looked back and forth between one another and the seemingly endless rows of gorgeous, freshly sown corn that stretched beyond the horizon, bathing the countryside in a magnificent golden glow.

““Some folks say we’re more divided than ever, and I reckon there’s some truth to that. But this here—this handsome, buttered, homegrown cob you see in my hand—by God, it ain’t changed one bit. Be it raw, boiled, grilled, creamed, or extruded into a cheese-flavored snack puff, we here in the land of the free have got us some damned fine corn. Yes, sir.”

“At press time, an estimated 333 million U.S. residents nodded solemnly toward their neighbors as they sat on porches, patios, and stoops to begin shucking corn for their evening meals.”

From https://www.theonion.com/nation-agrees-that-despite-our-differences-americans-st-1847309651

On July 23, 1885, just after completing his memoirs, Civil War hero and former president Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer.

From: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

“Calling it the surest path to avoiding catastrophic consequences for the planet, a new report by the Intergovernmental International Panel on Climate Change warned Monday that the only way to reverse climate change was for every person on Earth to share a single Chevy Volt. “Given the severity of the current crisis, our best hope for heading off runaway climate change is getting all of the Earth’s citizens to take turns using the same 2017 Chevy volt for the foreseeable future,” read the study in part, which explained that there would also be a Google Doc that allowed the world’s 7.1 billion drivers to coordinate carpools, grocery runs, and road trips across the planet’s seven continents.

“Our team looked into other possibilities, such as everyone sharing 200 electric scooters, but really the single Chevy Volt is the most practical solution for everyone’s needs. Thankfully, developed nations have budgeted enough to reserve a parking spot in Tucson that can be used as a convenient charging location. Now, the United Nations just need to save up enough to buy the thing.” The panel also recommended installing a tow cable on the Chevy Bolt to replace the entire global shipping infrastructure.

From https://www.theonion.com/new-study-finds-only-way-to-reverse-climate-change-if-e-1847320084

From Britannica.com: “On this day in 1848, the women’s suffrage movement in the United States was launched with the opening of the Seneca Falls Convention, which sought to gain certain rights and privileges for women, notably the right to vote.”

The ECU Center for Survey Research (CSR) released a new survey report of U.S. adults nationwide on public opinion of COVID-19 issues. The results of the report are part of the CSR’s Life, Liberty, and Happiness Project and can be found on the CSR’s website (or by clicking here: https://surveyresearch-ecu.reportablenews.com/pr/the-past-and-present-of-covid-19-mandates-and-vaccines-divided-republicans-unified-democrats).

The report received press coverage from WITN (https://www.witn.com/2021/07/07/new-survey-shows-republican-party-divided-covid-19-precautions/), WNCT (https://www.wnct.com/video/ecu-survey-finds-democrats-united-republicans-divided-on-covid-19-measures/6784775/), and The Daily Reflector (https://www.reflector.com/ecu-survey-finds-democrats-united-republicans-divided-on-covid-19-measures/article_6d89e30f-deb8-594c-b051-11e5f9293ae8.html).

“Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress and prison that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This dramatic action signaled the beginning of the French Revolution, a decade of political turmoil and terror in which King Louis XVI was overthrown and tens of thousands of people, including the king and his wife Marie Antoinette, were executed.”

July 14 is,  of course, celebrated as France’s National Day.

From: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Dr. Daniel Xu presented his joint research on state fiscal policy at the American Society for Public Administration Annual Conference, April 9-15, 2021. The study titled “Fiscal Policies, Financial Condition and Credit Rating: An Analysis of U.S. State Governments” examined the impact of tax and expenditure limits on financial condition and credit rating of state government. The research utilized the longitudinal financial data from the state government reports (2003-2018) and several other source and developed a new financial condition evaluation model. It found that stringent state tax and expenditure limits had a negative impact on both financial condition and credit rating. Different partisan control of executive and legislative branches also affected these two variables.

By Ed Gamble, originally published in 1992, in the Florida Times-Union. Is the message still relevant today?