249 Years Ago: The Newsletter

This week in the newsletter, Cameron breaks down the latest happenings in Ukraine and Iran, the outcome of the big fight for the BBB and announced a new show!

Jul 12, 2025

Intro

Welcome to the Newsletter. Each week, Cameron Lee Cowan wraps up the headlines with commentary that will make you sound smart to your friends and family. This week, we're covering the latest on the Iran bombings, the early fallout from the Big Beautiful Bill, and more!

The World is Hard, This is Not

Each week I send out the latest headlines, the latest videos from The Cameron Journal, and commentary about the week’s events. you're’re new here, my name is Cameron Lee Cowan M.A. MFA, I’m the Creative Director here at The Cameron Journal. You can learn more about me on the about page. I do research and commentary on politics, culture, and the world around us.

Remember, The World is Hard; This is Not.

Updates

I hope everyone had a happy Fourth of July! 14 score and 9 years ago, the founding fathers boldly created a new nation, and here we are trying to find a future in troublesome times. In my new grand holiday tradition, I stayed home. My days of sitting out waiting for a 10 pm fireworks show have long passed. I now tell stories about the crazy things I used to do. I’ve reached that stage of life.

As you've already seen, I am launching a new collection in support of my next book, America's Lost Generation and this new collection is all about Millennials and telling the unique story of how America's largest and most educated generation has struggled and seemingly failed to launch. Over the next 6 weeks or so, we'll explore major points from the book and talk about vital issues as Millennials reach middle age.

I also wanted to let everyone know I’ve started a new buddy podcast! The Living Joke Podcast is out now on all platforms. We are talking about gaming, salacious headlines, and much more. This is a f”n “morning “oo” style show with my friends Will and Connor. We are streaming on Twitch and all channels through The Cameron Journal (for now). We also have a substack that will have all our episodes and other fun content. Make sure to sign up for the Substack now so you can get it delivered to you. We will be adding paid options in time as well, with exclusive content. You can also find fun stuff on our Instagram.

Sign up for CameronJournal+

If you love these newsletters and want to support my work at The Cameron Journal, please consider signing up for CameronJournal+. You will get exclusive content for CJ+ subscribers, access to our Discord, and special hangouts with mIt'st’s the coolest club in town!

The Cameron Journal Academy is your home to write your book!

You can write a book in 2025, and I can help! My new writing courses are out now, and you can sign up for Fiction, Non-Fiction, or both! To learn more, please visit The Cameron Journal Academy and explore my course: The Power of Story.

P.S. If you aren’t ready to do a full course and want to work one-on-one, please check out my latest article about my writing coaching America’s Lost Generation

My next book is going to be out soon, I’m taking new pre-orders. America’s Lost Generation catalogs the story of Millennials and what went wrong for America’s largest and most educated generation. They did everything right, and they have been net losers in today’s America. So what happened? I discuss that and more in my new book.

Don’t forget to join me on Monday for The Cameron Journal Newshour to catch up on everything happening in the world!

The Latest

BBB is here

Last week on July 4, President Trump signed the Big Beautiful Bill into law. As we all know, the discussions on the BBB have gone on for weeks but we are already feeling the effects as funding shifts and changes. Reports of rural clinics closing due to the funding loss is already here. 15-17 million people will be ineligible for Medicaid and there are other cuts at Medicare as well on prescriptions and home healthcare. NASA is laying off 20,000 people, and there will be more cuts as the Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to continue with mass firings of federal workers.

The no tax on tips and overtime did not end up going through, and for all our trouble $3-5 trillion will be added to the national debt over the next decade. Gone too are clean energy tax credits that will undercut the green power revolution, and Elon’s electric car tax credits are out too. Defense spending is up on the other hand.

The BBB is the beginning of the end for the New Deal. It lasted nearly a century. My Nana always tells the story that FDR remarked at the time that he hoped it would last long enough for the people alive at the time and their children. My Nana was a child back then, and it almost lasted until the end of her life.

The BBB is also a big rewrite of how the US government affects society. With federal dollars going away, communities throughout the nation will begin feeling the pain. The worst of the cuts don'tn’t really take effect until late 2026 and 2027 (conveniently after the mid-terms). The budget law is unpopular, with only 22% support in recent polling. It failed on the floor of the House of Representatives before finally being passed, and it only passed the Senate after they took out some of the most damaging cuts and made cutouts for Alaska to get Lisa Murkowski to vote for it. The full picture of the law will continue to come out, and communities will begin to see impacts despite the delay in funding changes.

Iran, Ukraine and Shifting Postures

President Trump this week drew a sharp line in contrast with his previous behavior around the on-going Ukraine/Russia conflict. President Trump has criticized Vladimir Putin and the continued war in Ukraine. He has stated that the US must continue to support Ukraine and that the weapons shipments must continue. Although Ukraine had great success with their drone attack, Russia is responding with drone attacks of its own. This is a huge departure frTrump'sp’s previous criticism of Zelenskyy and the raucous meeting he had with JD Vance and the Ukrainian president during a meeting earlier this year.

I think drone warfare is likely to be the future. It is much less expensive than artillery and can reach farther. We saw this already with the drone campaign the US undertook in the Middle East. Most people don’t know this, but Biden all but ended the drone strike program during his time in office. Things in Iran are shifting too.

As somewhat anticipated, the strikes in Iran were only modestly effective. The NYTimes reports that Israel has found that Iran still has nuclear material and that not all of it was destroyed in the strikes. Whether Iran will continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency or not remains to be seen because they would be capable of really understanding the stockpile. The one bright side, told to me by a confident source, is that much of the uranium left is likely not enriched enough, and with the centrifuges damaged or destroyed, this may slow down the development of a nuclear weapon, although Israeli intelligence pegs the setback at only months.

Interesting Video of the Week

You've’ve probably noticed, you've’ve been car shopping at all, that vehicles have gotten incredibly expensive. This is not by accident. It is a combination of new safety features, the lack of used cars (we are hanging onto cars longer), and the inherent inefficiencies that plagues other countries’ manufacturers, especially Chinese manufacturers. All in all, American cars are unusually expensive, and it makes them hard to afford within the domestic market and uncompetitive around the world.

In this video we have a whole new view of the problem and what they might do to fix it.