The LuLac Political Letter #5, 713, July 14th, 2026

 

 

FETTERMAN’S COMMENTS ON GRAHAM’S DEATH

In the wake of Lindsey Graham's death, fellow U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, joined numerous politicians from both sides of the aisle in fondly remembering the U.S. senator from South Carolina.

Early in the morning on July 12, 2026, Graham's office said in a statement that he had died the previous evening from a tear in his main artery caused by hardened arteries. He was 71.

Graham was a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and became one of Washington's most influential Republicans, championing foreign American military power and playing a key role as conservatives reshaped the federal judiciary.

This is what Fetterman said in the wake of his death.

Fetterman took to X on July 12 just after 7:45 a.m. to issue a statement on Graham's death.

"Sudden and awful news about Senator Lindsey Graham," Fetterman said. "The United States Senate lost a foreign policy giant. On a personal level, he had always been kind, gracious, and thoughtful. Gisele and I extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and staff."

Trump, Biden, global politicians react to Lindsey Graham's death

Immediately following the announcement of Graham's death, leaders from around the globe expressed their shock at the news and remembered Graham fondly.

Trump told Reuters he spoke to Graham minutes before Graham because ill. He ordered flags to be lowered in Graham's honor.

 

AND FROM SENATOR McCORMICK

Dina and I are deeply saddened by the sudden loss of our friend, Lindsey Graham. South Carolina and our nation have lost a devoted public servant, patriot, and good man. Lindsey poured his heart into fighting for the people of South Carolina, for a strong U.S. military in which he served, and for keeping the American people safe and free.

We will miss Lindsey’s legendary wit and his infectious passion for causes greater than himself.

We are praying for his family, staff, and friends.

 

DAN MEUSER WEIGHS IN

Pennsylvania Congressman Dan Meuser (R-Luzerne), representing the 9th congressional district, publicly expressed his condolences to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R‑South Carolina) following Graham’s sudden death at age 71. Graham’s office confirmed he passed away from a “brief and sudden illness” shortly after returning from a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy WPMT FOX43+1.

In a Facebook post, Meuser described Graham as “tough, hard‑working, and dedicated”, noting that he was “never afraid to fight for what was right.” Meuser said he had known Graham both professionally and personally over the years, including a recent lunch where Graham gave him a hat reading “Make Iran Great Again.” Meuser explained Graham’s stated goal was to free the Iranian people from what he called a “terrorist regime” and allow them “lives of opportunity and freedom, not fear” 

Meuser also emphasized Graham’s influence in Washington, calling him “a force in Washington” and saying he would be “truly missed.” He and his wife, Shelley, are keeping Graham’s family, loved ones, and the people of South Carolina in their thoughts and prayers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The LuLac Edition #5, 712, July 13th, 2026

 

13

QUESTIONS

Our 13 Questions logo

 

1.  How was your 4^th of July?

I always say I never had a bad one. This year was no exception. However, the storms did a number of a lot of people in terms of power. We watched our traditional movie version of “1776” and enjoyed the company of friends and relatives.  The long weekend too was great.

 

2.  What did you think of that manager of the Marlins taking out the pitcher who was involved in a perfect game?

Look there have only been 24 perfect games in the history of baseball. To me it was a horrible thing when Eury Pérez was throwing a perfect game through seven innings, striking out multiple batters and retiring all 21 batters faced without a baserunner Sports Illustrated. By the end of the seventh, he had 92 pitches, not a high number for a perfect game.  However, manager Clayton McCullough made the controversial decision to remove Pérez from the game, ending the perfect game before it could be completed.

When I was a kid Drydale had a record of 19-17 one year, Wilbur Wood was like 25-21 one year. They were expected to go for the whole game. Even the Oakland A’s fans, the team he was beating was pissed. As a baseball fan, it was disgusting.

 

3.  Are you back in radio? I still hear you on WVIA FM?

Nope. WVIA was kind enough to invite me to make a few memories on their 60^th TV anniversary and WVIA FM’s more than fifty. I am still working for the city of Wilkes-Barre and having the time of my life.

 

4.  Do you think Governor Shapiro made the right decision by boycotting the Trump fair during the 250^th anniversary?

 

In another time, I’d say no. But Trump’s fair was just that, his, not America’s. Trump never went to the Biden inaugural. He never gave Shapiro credit for anything, took SNAP money away from poor people and has taken away Medicaid from Pennsylvanians. So, I give him a pass on this one.

 

5, Are you going to the all-Star game in Philly this Tuesday?

No but I’ll be watching TV. A coworker is going with his family, and he’ll give us a firsthand account.

 

5.  What are your thoughts on the Platner-Collin’s race in Maine?

I think the Democratic voters bought his line of shit because he was combative. But they didn’t vet him, enabled him and knew that he was dangerous when he was lying about his tattoos and marital issues. He turned into an alibi Ike who had an answer for everything. Right now, the state is going to go again for Susan Collins because the Dems will have no message to counter her support for Trump. This will put the Dem majority as only a pipedream.

 

6.  The Farmer’s Markets are really going strong. What’s your favorite vegetable? Fruits?

Asparagus, brussels sprouts, corn and tomatoes. Fruits are watermelons, berries and lemons.

 

7.  What’s your summertime TV viewing like?

A lot of PBS, Josh Gates on the Discovery Channel, and MLB.

 

8.  What do you think of the Republicans yelling about Communism?

They are really going back in time. I’d venture to guess that your average person, a MAGA voter couldn’t’ even describe what communism is. It’s another scare tactic people use.

 

9.  Do you believe the GOP when they claim they have conversations with Mitch McConnell?

I don’t believe the words of one of those people who claim they saw him. Or spoke to him. They’re all liars.

10.              Why do you think Trump always blames Biden?

Two reasons. Biden beat him. The second, Trump recognizes that Biden is, was and will always be a better man than him.

 

11.              Do you think it is divine intervention that the White Soc are doing so well since Pope Leo is in charge?

I’d love to say yes but I think the almighty and the pontiff have bigger fish to fry.

 

12.              Do you think Iran timed the Ayatollah funeral for the 4^th of July weekend?

Maybe.

 

13.              If you had a choice to see one baseball pitcher from your era, come back today, who might that be?

Sandy Koufax.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,

The LuLac Edition #5, 711, July 13th, 2026

 MONDAY MEMES 

The LuLac Edition 5, 710, July 12th, 2026

 

GOODBYE BLUES AND BROWNS!

 

A top chocolate candy in the U.S. is dealing with a case of the blues — or, more accurately, lack thereof.

On June 18, the Wall Street Journal reported that M&M’s will be removing two of its colors — blue and brown — from some bags as part of its transition from artificial to natural food dyes.

According to a Mars spokesperson, the company is introducing four product options made without synthetic dyes — M&M’s, Extra, Starburst and Skittles — which will initially be available exclusively through Amazon. The initial naturally colored M&M’s will not include blue and brown, but Mars is working toward offering naturally colored M&M’s in all six signature colors by 2028.

The move comes after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set his sights on the food dyes in popular snacks as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” (nicknamed “MAHA”) movement.

While the FDA didn’t technically ban artificial dyes, it has an “understanding” with food companies, according to Kennedy, but it’s unclear how enforcement works.

In last year’s “Make American Healthy Again” report, the authors, including Kennedy, claimed food dyes are associated with “behavioral issues in children,” though it did not establish a link between the two.

Some research suggests “certain children may be sensitive to them,” according to the FDA, so it’s continuing to monitor emerging research on the subject.

There is no other research in humans suggesting food dyes lead to health harm, Lindsey Taillie, Ph.D., nutrition epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, told TODAY.com at the time. But some experts say food dyes can make ultraprocessed foods more appealing, which can lead to overeating and obesity.

For now, the naturally colored M&M’s will be sold only on Amazon, while the original, artificially colored M&M’s will remain where they are currently sold.

 

FRIED APPLE PIE BACK AT McDONALDS

It took nearly three and a half decades but it’s back.

It’s remained deep (fried) in the public’s hearts for years — and now it’s back on the table.

On June 16, McDonald’s announced its Fried Apple Pie is returning for the United States’ 250th Birthday.

The long-retired, deep-fried diva was replaced by the Baked Apple Pie in the ’90s, but is came  back to all-day menus on June 23 at participating restaurants nationwide, for a limited time.

McDonald’s says its OG apple dessert is made with a filling of “100% American-grown apples,” wrapped in dough and deep-fried for its distinctive flaky crust.

The crispy, vented, rectangular dessert was first released in 1968 and remained a popular menu item for decades. It was removed in 1992 when the chain changed the recipes of some of its deep-fried foods to slightly healthier versions.

For years, fans have yearned on social media for the return of the nostalgic treat.

“I don’t know why McDonald’s ever stopped this way of serving the product, because the baked one is garbage,” one Reddit user wrote earlier this year. “I was born in 1966 and McDonald’s has changed a lot since I was a kid.”

The LuLac Edition #5, 709, July 11th, 2026

 

 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

THE GENERAL 

AND HIS SOLDIERS

 

After the Declaration of War was signed, the military strategy had to be put into place.  When the Revolutionary War began, the Second Continental Congress lacked a professional army or navy. However, each of the colonies had a long-established system of local militia, which were combat-tested in support of British regulars in the French and Indian War. The colonial state legislatures independently funded and controlled their local militias.

Militiamen were lightly armed, had little training, and usually did not have uniforms. Their units served for only a few weeks or months at a time and lacked the training and discipline of more experienced soldiers. Local county militias were reluctant to travel far from home and were unavailable for extended operations. To compensate for this, the Continental Congress established a regular force known as the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, which proved to be the origin of the modern United States Army, and appointed Washington as its commander-in-chief. However, it suffered significantly from the lack of an effective training program and from largely inexperienced officers. Each state legislature appointed officers for both county and state militias and their regimental Continental line officers; although Washington was required to accept Congressional appointments, he was permitted to choose and command his own generals, such as Greene; his chief of artillery, Knox; and Alexander Hamilton, the chief of staff.  One of Washington's most successful general officer recruits was Steuben, a veteran of the Prussian general staff who wrote the Revolutionary War Drill Manual. The development of the Continental Army was always a work in progress and Washington used both his regulars and state militias throughout the war; when properly employed, the combination allowed them to overwhelm smaller British forces, as they did in battles at Concord, Boston, Bennington, and Saratoga. Both sides used partisan warfare, but the state militias effectively suppressed Loyalist activity when British regulars were not in the area.

It might seem quaint today but back then Washington designed the overall military strategy in cooperation with Congress, established the principle of civilian supremacy in military affairs, personally recruited his senior officer corps, and kept the states focused on a common goal. Washington initially employed the inexperienced officers and untrained troops in Fabian strategies rather than risk frontal assaults against Britain's professional forces. Over the course of the war, Washington lost more battles than he won, but he never surrendered his troops and maintained a fighting force in the face of British field armies.

By prevailing European standards, the armies in America were relatively small, limited by lack of supplies and logistics. The British were constrained by the logistical difficulty of transporting troops across the Atlantic and their dependence on local supplies. Washington never directly commanded more than 17,000 men, and the combined Franco-American army in the decisive American victory at Yorktown was only about 19,000. At the beginning of 1776, Patriot forces consisted of 20,000 men, with two-thirds in the Continental Army and the other third in the state militias. About 250,000 American men served as regulars or as militia for the revolutionary cause during the war, but there were never more than 90,000 men under arms at any time.

On the whole, American officers never equaled their British opponents in tactics and maneuvers, and they lost most of the pitched battles. The great successes at Boston (1776), Saratoga (1777), and Yorktown (1781) were won by trapping the British far from base with a greater number of troops. After 1778, Washington's army was transformed into a more disciplined and effective force, mostly as a product of Baron von Steuben's military training. Immediately after the Continental Army emerged from Valley Forge in June 1778, it proved its ability to match the military capabilities of the British at the Battle of Monmouth, including a Black Rhode Island regiment fending off a British bayonet attack and then counter charging the British for the first time as part of Washington's army. After the Battle of Monmouth, Washington came to realize that saving entire towns was not necessary, but preserving his army and keeping the revolutionary spirit alive was more important. Washington informed Henry Laurens, then president of the Second Continental Congress,[ag] "that the possession of our towns, while we have an army in the field, will avail them little."

Although the Continental Congress was responsible for the war effort and provided supplies to the troops, Washington took it upon himself to pressure Congress and the state legislatures to provide the essentials of war; there was never nearly enough. Congress evolved in its committee oversight and established the Board of War, which included members of the military. Because the Board of War was also a committee ensnared with its own internal procedures, Congress also created the post of Secretary of War, appointing Major General Benjamin Lincoln to the position in February 1781. Washington worked closely with Lincoln to coordinate civilian and military authorities and took charge of training and supplying the army.

So as early as 1781, there was a Washington and Lincoln involved.