07/29/26

Title

Garfield, Is That You?

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, July 29th.

National Lasagna Day

Garfield, is that you? 

And now, the news.

Earthquake in Japan

-via Reuters

Starting in Japan, where a 7.1 magnitude earthquake has left at least two people dead after the quake triggered an explosion in a mall and caused a building to collapse. About 48,000 homes are currently without power.

Because of its location on the Ring of Fire (I talked about that a few months ago – it’s basically a hotbed for earthquakes), Japan accounts for 20% of the world’s earthquakes that are a 6.0 magnitude or higher.

So far, no irregularities have been noted at the nuclear power stations in the area.

Fires Around the World

-via NY Times, OPB, ABC News, and Oregon Live

And moving to weather on the 10s and 2s. 

In France and Spain, a heat wave and erratic winds have turned into a record-breaking fire season for the countries.

In France, 40% more land has already burned than in the previous record-setting year, which is tracked by the European Forest Fire Information System, which started tracking burned areas in 2006.

And in Spain, the amount of land burned there is almost at records higher than the last two decades.

In fact, of the fifteen biggest European fires from the last decade, three were burning this month. 

An additionally worrisome fact? 60% of last year’s wildfire damage happened in August.

Which it, you know… isn’t yet.

And here in the states, Oregon’s Fox Fire, which, as of this recording, has burned 46,000 acres and is currently 0% contained, has closed nearly 80 miles of I-84. The state is also battling the 40,000-acre Bench Fire, which combined with the Beachcomb Fire on Sunday and is also 0% contained. At least six homes and five outbuildings have been destroyed by that fire.

And this isn’t a fire but while we’re talking about weather disasters – a state of emergency has been declared in Wisconsin after Monday’s devastating tornado ripped through the state. More than 400,000 customers lost power on Monday (though almost half of those people have their power back now). There’s not yet a confirmed number of how many structures were damaged from the tornado, which reached winds up to 140 mph. 

Update: Iran & Russia

-via AP News, The Independent, and ABC News

Let’s talk overseas conflicts!

Tuesday was Lindsey Graham’s funeral and both Israel’s Netanyahu and Ukraine’s Zelenskyy were in attendance. Prior to the funeral, Trump held separate closed-door meetings with both men. Despite the fact that every time they get on the phone together, Trump and Netanyahu fight and it overall just gets real awkward real fast, both Trump and Netanyahu said it was a great conversation and had great things to say about each other.

No further details of their conversation were released. Later on Tuesday, multiple ballistic missiles were launched at US forces in the Middle East. Every missile was intercepted. 

Trump’s meeting with Zelensky also sounds like it went well. Following Graham’s funeral, Zelensky went to the Senate and witnessed Russian sanctions passing on a 86-12 vote. The bill expands Russian sanctions, puts new ones on Putin and other senior political and military leaders, and allows Trump to put tariffs on the top 5 Russian oil producers in the world, with China and India at the top of the list. 

After his meetings, Trump (and everyone else) attended Graham’s funeral. He sat in the front row, fell asleep a LITTLE, and eulogized him by saying: “virtually everyone, Republican or Democrat, liked Lindsey.” And then adding: “Well, not everybody, but it sounds good. Not everybody.”

He also said that Graham was mean to him while they were both running for office and so Trump admitted, of his own free will: “I did something that I shouldn’t have done. And I shared his personal cell phone number with the millions of people that happened to be watching that particular day.” And then he read out a phone number, presumably Graham’s, “If anybody wants to give it a shot.”

Can you believe this guy??

There will be a funeral in South Carolina today and then a private burial.

And in vaguely related news, Kentucky’s governor Andy Beshear has given the following ultimatum: “As Governor of the state you serve, I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign.”

That’ll show em! Bare rhetoric!

Beshear says if he doesn’t do that, then he’s going to ask Senate Majority Leader John Thune to investigate.

Listen – Beshear is limited in what he can do so, you know, I guess this is fine. It’s not going to do anything but what’s the alternative? He does nothing? That doesn’t work either. So bare rhetoric it is!

And that’s it. That’s the news.

Kind of a slow news day, what with everyone at Lindsey Graham’s funeral. 

Most than anything it was just like… hey! Here’s bad news about weather! To which I say… please be careful. 

I’m proud of lasagna. All Italian food, really. And Italians. 

But more than lasagna… because you’re layered and cheesy but no one could ever have too much of you… I’m proud of you.