Dead Drop: July 8

HAPPY 74.9^th BIRTHDAY:  The Dead Drop goes to bed on Thursday evenings – in order to be available to loyal readers on Friday mornings.  So, this item is about something that may have happened by the time you read it – but had not by the time we wrote it. President Biden’s schedule for Friday calls for him to visit the George H.W. Bush Center for Intelligence (AKA CIA headquarters) on Friday. The purpose is to address the staff and “celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the Agency’s founding.” We found that a bit confusing since conventional wisdom has it that CIA’s birthday falls on September 18,the date when the National Security Act of 1947, which established the place, went into effect. Or alternatively, you could mark the date as July 26, the day the law passed. In any case, President Biden’s July 8 visit precedes that anniversary by several weeks. But maybe the President wanted to beat the traffic anticipated for the fall. Anyway, Happy Almost Birthday, CIA.

NO RESPECT:  Well, almost no respect.  The Gallup polling people are out with their annual survey of what institutions and organizations the American public admire greatly. The answer: hardly any – and a lot fewer than last year.  Just two entities are liked “a great deal or quite a lot” by more than half of respondents. “Small business” tops the list with 68% and “the military” are at 64%.  But below that, “the police” come in at 45%, “large tech companies” are at 26%, which sounds bad until you see that “the presidency” is at 23% and “Congress” is in single digits at 7%.  Gallup says the approval ratings are at record lows.  While “Big Business” comes in at only 14% positive rating – on the bright side, if things keep going badly for them – they may soon be “small businesses” – and more likeable.