Maslow's Hierarchies of Matters - July 2025

Another summer month is behind us - I hope you're all getting outside when the weather is enjoyable.

So what were the MAIN things that mattered in July?  What was, and wasn't, worth our valuable attention?

Major: Very important, will be impactful.

Was and remains major The One Big Beautiful Bill is now law, and the bill contains a lot of stuff and will affect nearly every American in multiple ways, in particular if you have kids.

The floods in Texas earlier this month were horrendous.  The recovery is ongoing, here's a list of organizations to donate to.

Appreciable: Good context to keep in mind, but don't sweat the details.

Was and remains appreciable: The ongoing genocide in Sudan and China.

Tarriffs will probably have major effects on things, but don't ask me how.  But it's always good to stay within whatever your budget is so you can absorb price increases (or just surprise bills).

Trump firing the jobs person isn't a huge deal.  On the one hand it's certainly bad for the President to fire someone for delivering true but bad news and want to replace them with someone who will deliver good but false news.  On the other hand, there's no sleight of hand here and it's not like economists are all pledged to the government or fear retaliation.  This isn't Russia or China.  Whenever the next positive news comes out people aren't just going to nod their heads and accept it.  Actually, I had had this at incidental but kicked it up to appreciable because of the possibility the good news is accurate and people don't believe it because Trump has blown the credibility of the report.

Incidental: Good to know, but of limited use beyond its own topic.

Was Incidental in June, will remain Incidental: The Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Hamas wars continue to burn on, and there is lots to learn about if those conflicts interest you.

Negligible: Ignore this as much as possible.

Was and remains Negligible: Continued anti-immigrant actions.  We're still nowhere near the level of mass deportations, and still within the realm of "individual stories which can be tracked," which means these are tragedies, not statistics.  It can get worse - save your outrage for if it does.  If you know or are an undocumentated immigrants obviously this becomes a Major story for you which should command a lot of your attention.

Jeans/Genes?  Epstein files?  Ignore it.  

And just because its an issue that's important to me and this is my blog so I make this rules: Any recognition of a Palestinian state is a pretty empty gesture and we should ignore such statements.  It's not like anyone is going to put down an embassy in Gaza or even the West Bank.  Recognizing a Palestinian state will benefit whoever does the recognizing politically, it won't benefit the Palestinians.  Woe to the Palestinians - they deserve a better government and better advocates than the ones they've got.

Thank you for reading! If you'd like to toss me some support please Venmo me.  If you disagree with something or if I missed a story you'd like my take on, let me know!