Secretary of State John Kerry is still negotiating with Iran. They were supposed to reach a deal June 30, but they delayed it another week. They seem to be getting closer. Yes, closer to us agreeing to all of Iran’s demands. Kerry (and Secretary Clinton before him) should have said, “We’re holding back $130 Billion of your money and refusing to let you sell any oil. We’re going to keep these sanctions until you do two things: quit supporting our enemies in the Middle East, and stop development of nuclear bombs and long-range rockets.” But he won’t. Our only hope is for Congress to block any Iran deal until February 2017.

We’ve got a whole slew of Republicans announcing for President. Bobby Jindal, Chris Christy, Donald Trump. And Ohio Governor John Kasich will announce in a couple of weeks.

But the candidate drawing the big crowds is Senator Bernie Sanders. I’ve been reading about his platform. You know, it’s easy to draw a crowd when your main audience includes everyone who is not working and 40 million on food stamps. They sincerely believe his message that taking 90% of everything the top 1% make will cover all their needs and wants. Want a free college education? Got it. Want free hospital stays? Covered.  Free food? Yes, all you care to eat at the Government Buffet.

Based on Senator Sanders’ campaign, I think he is better suited to be president of Greece.  The voters in Greece agreed with their current leader and said, “No, we will not pay Europe the $250 Billion we owe ‘em, and we expect Europe to give us more so we can live this lazy lifestyle we’ve grown accustomed to.”

This is not a new problem. In May 2010, here is a bit of what I wrote in Weekly Comments. “The problem in Greece? The government overspent and overpromised. Greeks are guaranteed a high retirement income, and they live a long, long time after they retire. The government’s been operating on borrowed money, and the younger folks aren’t thrilled at the prospect of paying off the debt and getting none of the benefits.” A year later in July 2011 I wrote, “Leaders in Greece say they have a debt crisis, but it’s actually a work crisis. Nobody wants to work. They’d rather protest, carry signs, throw rocks, and set fires. Greece needs to sell off a few islands. Those Greek Isles are so popular, you’d be surprised what they’d bring at auction.”

If Secretary Kerry were in charge of the financial negotiations with Greece he would likely agree to write off the $250 Billion debt and give ‘em $10 Billion more so they can all take their annual 7-week summer vacations.

The U.S. women’s soccer team won the World Cup, 5-2 over Japan. They got off to a great start scoring 4 goals in the first 16 minutes. Carli Lloyd had 3 of the goals. She and her teammates should be hired to teach our men’s team how to score.

I’m glad you survived our Independence Day celebrations. Chicago had at least 18 murders and almost a hundred who were shot but survived. But I never heard about any of these shootings on national news, probably because none of them were by a white policeman.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“Greece is frying in her own fat.” DT #2683, Mar. 12, 1935

“That liberty we got [in 1776] was a great thing, but they ought to pass a law that we could only celebrate it every 100 years, for at the rate of accidents yesterday we won’t have enough people to celebrate it every year…What this country needs on July the Fourth is not ‘more liberty or more freedom,’ it’s a Roman candle that only shoots out of one end.”  DT #2782, July 5, 1935