Rightwinggranny is adding some guest writers to the website this year. The opinions expressed by these writers are not necessarily the opinions of rightwinggranny.
Putting Americans First
Reply
We need to be hospitable to our visitors and the people who come here to work or go to school, but we don’t need to do it at the expense of our own citizens.
On Wednesday, Breitbart posted an article about a new piece of legislation that would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965.
The article reports:
Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) has introduced a new piece of legislation that would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require that recipients of Pell Grants be U.S. citizens, a move the Republican said would “put American students first.”
Unveiled on Wednesday morning, the “Pell for Americans Act” simply states that the federally funded aid grant should only go to American undergraduates — not foreigners.
Despite efforts to restrict eligibility for non-citizens in the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill, several classes, including refugees, asylees, immigration parolees, Cuban-Haitian entrants, and “conditional permanent residents,” remain eligible.
Just this February, the Hill reported that the Pell program “is in financial difficulties with a projected shortfall of billions of dollars that could lead to trouble for students as soon as 2028.”
By the end of this fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects the Pell Grant program will be $5 billion in debt. Over the next ten years, that number jumps to between $104 billion and $132 billion if nothing is done about the issue.
Students are not required to pay back Pell Grants. It seems to me that requiring students to pay back at least part of those grants after graduation might solve some of the budget program. Even if a student receives a grant because they cannot afford to pay for their education, they should make enough money after graduation to pay back at least part of the grant to keep the program going.
Your Tax Dollars At Work
On Wednesday, American Greatness posted an article about the amount of fraud discovered in the Affordable Care Act.
The article reports:
The Trump administration is canceling Affordable Care Act enrollments covering more than 760,000 people as part of a sweeping effort to combat fraud and improper taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that approximately 315,000 enrollments covering more than 760,000 individuals were canceled after officials determined they were unauthorized. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates the action will return roughly $2.2 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies.
“We’re actually making sure that the people receiving Obamacare subsidies are actually entitled to receive them,” Vance said.
The administration also plans additional eligibility verification for hundreds of thousands of other enrollments and has imposed a six-month suspension on new agents and brokers signing people up for coverage.
Eligibility verification should be required on every federal program.
The article concludes:
CMS said it has identified unauthorized enrollments and suspicious activity involving agents and brokers. Since January, the agency has sent termination notices to more than 200 agents and brokers it deemed noncompliant.
Democrats criticized the administration’s action. Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, accused Republicans of worsening the nation’s health care problems.
The enforcement push comes as Americans continue to face high health care costs and as affordability remains a major issue heading into the fall midterm elections.
The administration says its broader anti-fraud campaign is intended to protect taxpayers and ensure federal health care benefits go only to people who qualify.
The major provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect on January 1, 2014. That was more than twelve years ago. Why is it that the Trump administration is the first administration to deal with the level of fraud that has been building over those twelve years? I am beginning to think that the taxpayers should withhold all money from Washington until Washington shows us that they can spend it responsibly!
Pay For Play Only Works If You Get What You Pay For!
The Democrats are getting ready to be in charge of Congress. They have already stated that if they get control of Congress in the mid-term elections, they will begin impeachment hearings against President Trump immediately. It really doesn’t matter if he has done anything worthy of impeachment–they just want to impeach him. The media is already getting ready to help.
On Wednesday, RealClearInvestigations posted an article about the latest false accusation leveled against President Trump.
The article reports:
In a segment titled “The Pardon Economy,” veteran CBS reporter Lesley Stahl alleges that Trump has upended the way U.S. presidents have dispensed pardons for “100 years or more” by creating a “new system” that involves lobbyists and high-priced “pardon brokers.”
Stahl’s report suggests that Trump has replaced the normal order – in which pardons typically go through an apolitical review by the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney– with a scheme that looks like “pay-to-play.” It has already led Democrats to vow they will investigate the issue if they retake the House in the November mid-term elections.
To situate Trump in this “pardon lobbyists” narrative, Stahl links the White House to two convicted con artists who claim close ties to Trump without disclosing one critical detail: There is no evidence the two have ever succeeded in getting anyone a pardon. While their efforts suggest that some in Washington may be trying to capitalize on the narrative about Trump’s alleged corruption – inspired, in part, by questionable pardons he has issued previously – “60 Minutes” offers no concrete proof connecting the administration to these money-making schemes.
Stahl’s report also ignored the long history of wrongdoers paying exorbitant fees for lobbyists to get their pardons viewed by the Oval Office – most famously Bill Clinton’s brother, Roger, and Hillary’s brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham.
Although Stahl’s report quotes Trump officials denying her claims, a DOJ official who was outraged by her “misleading” report provided RealClearInvestigations with documents showing that well-connected D.C. insiders are routinely involved in the pardon process.
The article explains that the charge involves two people who were offering to obtain pardons for people for $300,000. But the people who paid them the money never got the pardons. That doesn’t sound like President Trump is the one with some legal questions to answer.
I wonder if the people who paid for the pardons will get their money back since they didn’t get the pardons.
Holding People Accountable For Election Fraud
I don’t know how rampant election fraud is in America. I have a feeling it is more common in some places than in others. I also think that we have to consider that electronic fraud is possible and deal with that also.
On Monday (updated Tuesday), Just the News posted an article about a Department of Justice crackdown on election fraud and noncitizen voting.
The article reports:
Since the Trump Justice Department warned state and local election officials that they could be charged with allowing fraudulent voting activities, more than 200 arrests and indictments have been secured in a crackdown on election fraud and noncitizen voting, and that number could double soon, a top official revealed to Just the News.
…Dhillon (Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon) also hinted at further developments in the coming weeks, suggesting her department has developed evidence calling into question New Jersey’s claim that a computer glitch allowed thousands of foreigners to register to vote in that state and about 400 to actually cast ballots in violation of law.
“I’m not sure we have the correct numbers from New Jersey. They’re not really cooperating with us, and so we will get to the bottom of what happened there. And you know, New Jersey tried to blame a vendor for a mistake or a glitch, quote unquote. But you know, I think there’ll be another side to that story,” she said.
…Dhillon further stated that in the past several weeks, her office has indicted or convicted 67 individuals for election-related crimes, while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made more than 160 arrests.
“What we care about is that noncitizens who voted in a federal election canceled out the votes of American citizens. It does happen. It happens a lot more than anybody says. It wasn’t being prosecuted under the Biden DOJ. In the four years of the Biden DOJ, they prosecuted a total of 13 people for election-related crimes, and we’ve done more than that in the last week here at DOJ,” she said.
Please follow the link to read the entire article. We need to secure our elections. Every vote by someone who cannot legally vote cancels out the legal vote of an America.
This Might Save America Money In The Long Run
On Tuesday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about a Trump administration proposal to rebuild energy sites in the Middle East. I hate to add to government spending, but this might pay off in the long run by lowering energy prices and keeping them there. As I write this, crude oil prices are about $90 a barrel because of the war in Iran. I have a feeling that war will end in the near future. If the war ends in a way that secures peace in the area, investment in the energy sites that were destroyed in the war would probably be a good idea.
The article quotes The Wall Street Journal:
Under Trump’s plan, the U.S. would seek a matching contribution from eight Middle Eastern partners—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq and Jordan—with the goal of generating a $10 billion investment fund. The investment would be called the Partnership for Allied Trust and Construction, or Pact.
Discussions on the fund are under way, and the terms of the arrangement could change, U.S. officials said. It is unclear when, or even if, other countries will sign on.
Some Middle East officials said the initiative appeared to be Washington’s attempt to cast the Strait of Hormuz as a less consequential energy route and show the U.S. and its allies as united in confronting Iran. They added that creating a fund to rebuild destroyed energy sites without a peace deal with Tehran would be premature, as the regime could target fresh infrastructure with drones and missiles.
Iran has been attacking oil refineries, gas facilities, oil fields, nuclear plants, and ports since February. Before we start rebuilding, we need to make sure that there will be no further attacks. If that condition is met, this is probably a good idea.
The Less Obvious Money That Influences Policies
On Tuesday, David Strom at Hot Air posted an article about the ways that some millionaires use their wealth to influence government policies in various levels of government.
The article notes:
One such program, funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, placed and paid the salaries of “government employees” strategically inserted into Attorney General offices in Blue states, funding regulations and lawsuits aimed at targets that Bloomberg’s NYU-based NGO program identified as vulnerable to its pressure. The goal was, of course, fighting climate change.
The article includes a picture of an X post citing an article from The Washington Free Beacon:
“A group housed at the New York University School of Law and backed by billionaire climate activist Michael Bloomberg quietly closed its doors in late August amid congressional scrutiny into its funding and operations. The so-called State Energy and Environmental Impact Center’s signature initiative involved placing paid, climate-focused “fellows” in Democrat-controlled state attorney general offices nationwide as those offices sued the oil industry and other energy providers.”
…Think of it as a cousin to “Zuckerbucks,” where a private entity funds a program that places people in government offices as either quasi- or fully government employees, with a mandate to pursue the NGO’s agenda. The same sort of thing happens with grants to news organizations, where an outside group pays for employees or “coverage” of specific issues, and the stories are still technically the product of the news organization, but the content is directed at producing the results desired by the people who cut the checks.
…James Comer opened an investigation into the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, and out of the blue, it closed. He sought documents from it, and “poof!” It’s gone.
As these organizations are being investigated, they magically disappear.
The article concludes:
The system goes like this:
- Private money pays for an official function voters did not appropriate.
- The host office gets free (or cheap) labor and a national network.
- The donor gets a docket — climate litigation, election administration, progressive prosecution — that would be harder to pass as statute.
Democrats always criticize Republicans when we talk about privatizing some government function to improve efficiency. Their preferred strategy is to privatize government by paying for people to do their bidding using the compulsory powers of government to achieve their own ends.
I assume that the concept is legal, since it has been happening for a while. But I also assume that much of the stuff that we never see and that gets buried in internal documents in the NGOs is sketchy or illegal, which is why the NYU center suddenly closed down with no notice.
Next time you hear a liberal talk about “preserving democracy,” this is what they really mean. A government that can be bought for the right price.
Please follow the link to read the entire article.
From my friends at Townhall:
When The Press Lies To Sway An Election
The mid-term elections are almost here. Soon all of the television ads for the candidates will be gone. Soon the accusations will stop flying. I can’t wait.
Meanwhile, how accurate is the mainstream media’s reporting of the Trump economic record? According to the actual numbers–not very accurate!
On Monday, Issues & Insights posted an article about the Trump economy and the media’s reporting on it.
The article reminds us:
Republican incumbent President George H.W. Bush lost the 1992 election to the Arkansas governor who ran on the slogan “It’s the Economy, Stupid.” Americans voted for change after being told over and over by the legacy media that the economy was dragging. But it wasn’t. It had recovered from a downturn, yet the media continued to shop the lie, carrying Bill Clinton to the presidency.
We’re now in 2026, less than two months from the midterm elections, and the legacy media, which is nothing more than the Democratic Party’s propaganda arm, is doing the same to President Donald Trump in an effort to lift the Democrats to a congressional majority.
Clinton’s campaign was centered on his claim that the economy leading up to the 1992 election was the worst “in 50 years.” It was true that Bush’s term had a rough patch that began in July 1990. But “the recession ended in March 1991,” according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, and “an expansion began at that time.”
Read that again. March 1991. Not March 1992. Nor March 1993.
The article notes:
While Trump’s handling of the economy is at just 35%, according to RealClearPolitics polling average, the data tell a story that the Democrats don’t want told. Instead, they want to screech about an economy they claim isn’t working for everyone, and yammer on about affordability hardships their policies have caused. Naturally, the media are happy to amplify the message. After all, electing Democrats is, as they see it, their job.
So they ignore:
- An unemployment rate of 4.1%, having fallen from a high for Trump’s second term of 4.5% in November 2025.
- Total employment growth in August of 569,000 to 162.75 million.
- Modest inflation in August outside of gasoline and related crude products — “not exactly” the “cost of living crisis, as so many claim,” says Powerline.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a record high in August.
- An economy that is expanding and a central bank that “appears to be its most optimistic about the economy since it first start publishing forecasts in 2011,” reports Market Watch.
We have seen this play before. The question is whether or not voters will fall for this trick a second time.
Trump Report Card: Iran
Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.
How to deal with Iran’s determination to obtain nuclear weapons has been an issue facing several presidents prior to the Trump administration. Neither Obama nor Biden effectively dealt with the number one sponsor of terrorism in the world in this regard. Neither bribery or diplomacy has worked. President Trump is now addressing the issue head-on instead of kicking it down the road.
Back in January of this year, intelligence information clearly showed that in spite of oversight and inspections by the United Nations, Iran had been hiding its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. In fact, they were just weeks away from having their first nuclear weapon. The 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the Trade Center buildings in New York City should serve as a reminder that Islamist extremists are not rational, peace-seeking individuals. We should remember that the Iranian regime has been sponsoring “Death to America” protests and celebrated the death of almost 3,000 Americans on 9/11. Let’s face it, we are dealing with a death cult. The Islamist terrorists that flew four hijacked planes on 9/11 were fully prepared to die for their cause (destroying infidels in general and America in particular). Death to a true Islamic believer is not something to be avoided, but is sought after in order to obtain an afterlife that is more rewarding than what they are living today. Remember they believe they will have access to multiple virgins. The question that needs answering is, “Would the perpetrators of 9/11 have attacked with nuclear weapons if they had access to them?” Answer–Definitely.
There is an old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Ask yourself this question, “Would the world have been better off eliminating the Hitler regime before it was sufficiently armed to carry out his promises to expand Germany and eliminate Jews and start what turned out to be the most devastating war in all of history?” Clearly, the answer is yes. I remember the photos of the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin coming back from a meeting with Hitler and waving a paper document believing he had eliminated Hitler’s threat. Another false promise. Evil is not so easily stopped.
The reality is that any effort to stop evil comes with a price. The world in general, including the people of the United States, are paying a price for the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and also the conflict with Iran. That price is primarily higher fuel costs and the resulting inflation of all items transported by vehicles. Again, using WWII as an example, there were 406,000 American servicemen killed during that war. There were also dramatic economic costs to the average American to defeat Germany and Japan. Most of us are too young to remember, but here are a few examples: Food was rationed, especially meat, canned goods, sugar and produce. Ration cards were required when purchasing these items. Gasoline was also rationed and tires were simply not available. No new automobiles were built from February 1942 until October 1945. Spare parts were not readily available. Bicycles, typewriters, washing machines and other appliances were not manufactured. Clothes were in short supply and lines were long and store shelves empty. I remember having blackout window shades in our apartment in New York City. The point I am trying to make is that the increase in fuel prices pales in significance to the sacrifices of another generation when evil was allowed to flourish. Would a nuclear armed Iran lead to WWIII? It is certainly possible.
So, the bottom line is whether our generation of Americans is willing to shoulder the burden of increased fuel costs to reign in the evil regime in Iran. This election will answer that question.
Ignoring The Real Problem
On Sunday, The Daily Signal posted an article about a claim made by Representative Ayanna Pressley that there is a national crisis of “widespread modern-day lynchings” and “racial terror.”
The article lists eight cases of black people found hanging from trees. Only one of those people, a woman, was found to be the victim of foul play. Her murderer, a black man, has been found and arrested.
The article reports:
The investigation found no national racist conspiracy. From 1995 through September 1998, authorities investigated 670 arsons, bombings or attempted bombings involving houses of worship. Two hundred twenty-five involved predominantly black churches. Most did not. Of the 106 suspects arrested for arson at black churches, 68 were white, 37 were black, and one was Hispanic.
Some fires were indeed racist crimes, but the sweeping media narrative was false. America had again been stampeded into believing white racism had suddenly and everywhere reared its head.
The article notes:
Meanwhile, these so-called leaders ignore the elephant in the room.
They ignore the epidemic of black children born without a father married to and living with their mother, despite overwhelming evidence that two-parent families improve economic, behavioral and educational outcomes.
They ignore the crisis of K-12 schools in urban America, where most black fourth graders are not proficient in reading or math. Democrat politicians and teacher unions control and defend public urban schools.
They ignore black-on-black crime. In 2023 more than half of the nation’s homicide victims were black, and of those victims, nearly 90% of the identified offenders were black.
They ignore the effect of illegal immigration on black joblessness and wages. A U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigation found that illegal immigration has tended to increase the supply of low-skilled labor and depress both wages and employment rates for low-skilled American workers—a disproportionate number of whom are black men. Research presented to the commission estimated that the immigration influx from 1980 through 2000 reduced the employment rate of low-skilled black men by 8 percentage points. Other research estimated that immigration cost the average American man without a high school diploma approximately $1,800 annually in reduced wages.
It’s time to make stable families great again!
The Children Are Behaving Badly And Hoping We Have Short Memories
CNBC is reporting today:
- The White House television press pool that covers events by President Donald Trump on a rotating basis will stop covering those events because of the White House’s ban of CNN from acting as a member of that pool, CNN reported.
- CNN was barred from covering Trump as the designated TV pooler when the president is visiting New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
- In addition to CNN, the other members of the White House TV pool are NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox.
They are simply outraged. But let’s look at a little bit of history.
On Sunday, The American Spectator posted an article about banning CNN.
The article points out:
It is, however, unreasonable to ask former President Barack Obama to keep his mouth shut on this issue. On Saturday, he appeared on C-SPAN to offer his typically hypocritical take on Trump’s “press ban,” as the network disingenuously described it: “I’m trying to think what would have happened if I had said, you know what, Fox News, you’re out of here! It’s unimaginable!” Actually, it’s not necessary to imagine what would have happened—Zip. As Piers Morgan points out, “Obama did ban Fox, and waged almost constant war against press freedom.” Joe Concha elaborates, “Team Obama rejected more FOIA requests than anyone in history, spied on James Rosen, secretly seized AP phone records and booted several news outlets off of his plane.”
But former President Autopen holds the record for the most extensive White House press purge. As Fox News reported in August of 2023, “At least 442 reporters have lost their credentials since the White House press office changed its rules for journalists to be eligible for permanent passes, according to reports.” The new eligibility requirements were clearly meant to target independent journalists. In order to qualify for a White House pass, reporters had to prove “Full-time employment with an organization whose principal business is news dissemination.” This travesty produced no condemnation from the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA). Trump’s action, however, was vociferously denounced by WHCA President Jacqui Heinrich:
The article at The American Spectator concludes:
As for the claim that the Trump administration has violated the First Amendment, perhaps these “journalists” should take the time to read it. It doesn’t give CNN, MS NOW or Politico any claim to a seat in the White House briefing room.
According to AI, 56 percent of Americans watch the mainstream media. That’s probably still too many, but the distrust of the media is at an all-time high because of their false reporting. The two most honest sources of news right now are Newsmax and One America News. Unfortunately, Fox News has gone over to the dark side.
Making The World A Safer Place
Anyone paying attention has noticed that China has been increasing its reach in the South China Sea by building artificial islands, declaring them Chinese territory, and claiming the ocean around them. China has made no secret of the fact that it plans to be the single super-power in the world in the near future. President Trump recently negotiated a deal that will make that slightly more difficult.
On Saturday, Breitbart posted an article about a deal between Denmark and America about Greenland.
The article reports:
Denmark’s government was cautiously optimistic on Saturday about Donald Trump’s announcement of a deal on Greenland to bolster U.S. military presence there but keep the island under Danish control, following months of threats by the U.S. president to seize the semiautonomous territory of a NATO ally.
I suspect that those threats were part of the negotiating process, but I can’t say that for sure.
The article notes:
After Trump’s announcement Friday, the office of Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the deal will be signed by all three governments next week during the United Nations General Assembly, but parliamentary action is still needed by the Danish and Greenland governments before it can be enforced.
“Next week could be a good week … for Greenland, Denmark, and the United States alike,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen wrote on Instagram Saturday morning.
“A period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic – and thus also our shared security within NATO and Europe – while respecting the Kingdom´s red lines,” he added.
Greenland’s government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen said he was happy about the deal which he said “benefits not only our collective security, but also the continued development here in the country.”
The article concludes:
After his return to the White House, Trump had called on Denmark to sell the island to the U.S., while insisting Greenland is crucial for U.S. security. He pointedly wouldn’t rule out taking the island by military force, even though Denmark is a NATO ally of the U.S.
Denmark and Greenland repeatedly said the island is not for sale and condemned reports of the U.S. gathering intelligence there. The U.S. push for Greenland was also fiercely opposed by Russia and much of Europe.
Greenland grassroots pro-sovereignty activist Orla Joelsen wrote on X that “our fight against Trump´s ambition to take over Greenland has been won.”
“The new agreement explicitly recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Greenlandic people´s right to self-determination,” the activist added.
The shipping lanes around Greenland are going to become even more strategic in the future as the counties around the North Pole develop better methods of navigating through the ice. This agreement is a step forward for the free world.
Voting With Their Feet
As we approach the mid-term elections, it might be a good idea to take a look at the consequences of some of the ideas that the Democrat party is espousing. Those consequences are visible in blue states such as California, Minnesota, New York, and others. Many blue states are losing population as businesses and residents leave those states to go to states with better economic conditions and fewer regulations.
On Friday, American Greatness posted an article about another major company talking about leaving California because of the actions of California’s Attorney General.
The article reports:
An antitrust battle over a proposed merger of Paramount Skydance with Warner Brothers has Paramount’s CEO David Ellison threatening to move the studio out of the state of California.
The Daily Caller reports the Hollywood giant is weighing moving its operations out of California while the state’s Democratic attorney general leads a lawsuit seeking to block its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The California Attorney General Rob Bonta, backed by 11 other state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America, filed a lawsuit to block the deal on antitrust grounds, according to The Wrap.
According to TMZ, officials within the Los Angeles Mayor’s office and California Attorney General’s office say Paramount has threatened to leave California and move its operation to another state, if the matter isn’t settled by Oct 1.
…A leaked internal report warns that if Paramount follows through on the move, the impact on California’s economy could include the loss of up to 58,000 jobs, a $21 billion hit to economic output, and a reduction of up to $1.17 billion in annual state tax revenue, according to Yahoo Finance.
The Daily Caller reports that Paramount’s departure would be another blow to the state’s already shrinking entertainment industry.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the region shed roughly 57,000 entertainment jobs over the past four years, while more than 80 film and television production service businesses have closed since 2022.
The article concludes:
The threatened move underscores how California’s current regulatory climate is becoming intolerable despite Governor Newsom’s claims that the state would continue to be the entertainment capital of the world for decades to come.
UPDATE: Sept 22
From The Hollywood Reporter:
After all of that sound and fury, that’s it? “I don’t think these two companies should merge,” said California attorney general Rob Bonta in unveiling a settlement with David Ellison to allow the mogul to do just that with Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.
I wonder if Paramount will stay in California.
Not Surprising
Iran is losing the war with America (and Israel). The flow of money into the country has been severely limited, the Revolutionary Guard may or may not be getting paid, and the government is not on steady ground. So what is Iran doing? It’s working very hard to get a nuclear bomb so that it can be the bully on the block.
On Friday, Trending Politics posted an article about increased activity around Pickaxe Mountain in Iran.
The article reports:
New satellite imagery reviewed by the Institute for Science and International Security shows additional earthen barriers and soil around entrances at Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried facility President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike.
Imagery from Sept. 11 shows roadblocks still blocking access to western tunnel portals, according to the institute.
The group said the restricted access supports its assessment that the facility is not currently being used for normal operations, while also suggesting valuable equipment or materials may remain inside.
Analysts also identified additional soil placed over one western tunnel portal and a nearby cluster of older entrances.
…“Washington can do what it’s traditionally been able to do with sites that are underground, hardened and fortified, and that’s to bury their entrances and raise the political cost to the Islamic Republic of being able to dig out,” he said.
“While there may not be the perfect munition just yet, Uncle Sam always has a bigger bomb,” Ben Taleblu (Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies) added. “And in the meantime, what they can do is show that they mean business by burying the entrances.”
Separate satellite imagery also shows Iran rebuilding another sensitive facility at the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran.
Iran is not historically a Muslim country. Before the Islamic takeover in 1979, the state religion in Iran was Zoroastrianism. Iran was a Persian country–not an Arab country. If Iran is able to obtain a nuclear weapon, it will not hesitate to use it–first on Israel and then on America. The goal of the current leadership of Iran is to create chaos in order to bring back the 12th Imam. Mutually assured destruction (MAD), which was America’s policy toward the Soviet Union during the cold war, does not work with Iran because they welcome nuclear war. Shiite Islam is essentially a death cult. We don’t need to allow them to follow through on their wishes to develop and use nuclear weapons.
Avoiding The Rest Of The Story
On Saturday, PJ Media posted an article about a Government Accountability Office report that is totally misleading.
The article reports:
Washington has discovered a government program that costs billions of dollars, and naturally, everyone is shocked.
The Government Accountability Office says federal agencies spent an estimated $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave in 2025. Roughly $6.7 billion of that was tied to the Trump administration’s Deferred Resignation Program, which allowed workers who agreed to leave government to remain on salary while generally no longer working.
…There’s just one problem.
The $6.7 billion figure is an estimated one-time cost of removing workers from the federal payroll. OPM (Office of Personnel Management) Director Scott Kupor has said the Deferred Resignation Program is expected to save more than $20 billion every year because those salaries disappear after the employees leave.
Spend $6.7 billion once to reduce annual spending by more than $20 billion, and suddenly the story sounds rather different.
Except that, Washington being Washington, there’s another concern.
GAO says OPM can’t accurately determine the program’s actual net savings because it never established a separate payroll category to track administrative leave used for workforce reductions. Administrative leave for the resignation program was mixed together with other forms of administrative leave in the federal payroll system.
The article concludes:
OPM’s more-than-$20-billion annual savings figure remains the administration’s projection. GAO isn’t endorsing it. GAO also isn’t saying the Deferred Resignation Program lost taxpayers $6.7 billion on balance. Its report says something more inconvenient: the federal government doesn’t yet have the data necessary to accurately calculate the answer.
And somehow, “Government Accounting Is Too Messy to Know the Final Number Yet” didn’t make many headlines.
The $6.7 billion is real enough to deserve scrutiny.
So is the part people keep leaving out.
It will be interesting to see exactly how much the annual deficit is when the government closes its books at at the end of September. We won’t actually see all of the Department of Government Efficiency Agency (DOGE) cuts, but between some of the cuts and the increased revenue due to the tax cuts (yes, tax cuts result in increased revenue), it will be interesting to see what the deficit for the past year actually is.
Fixing Something That Was Broken
The H1-B Visa program has come under scrutiny in recent years because it has been abused by American companies. We have all heard the story about Disney employees being forced to train their foreign replacements. Disney imported workers because foreign workers will work for less money and fewer benefits. It was about their bottom line. That wasn’t the intention of the H1-B Visa.
On Saturday, Amuse On X posted an article about a recent Executive Order by President Trump designed to fix the abuses in the H1-B Visa program.
The article reports:
A company can tell its investors in the morning that it needs fewer workers and tell Washington in the afternoon that it cannot find enough of them. Closing a semiconductor fab in Ohio and hunting for a chip designer in Austin can produce both sentences honestly. The harder case is when the two sentences describe the same desks. For more than 30 years, nobody in the federal government was assigned to sort one from the other. On September 18, President Trump signed an executive order that gives that comparison to the agencies already charged with reviewing H-1B sponsorship.
…Last December 14, defending the president’s $100,000 fee, I wrote that no bureaucrat could tell a real shortage from wage arbitrage and that price should do the screening. The same week as the new order, a companion proclamation renewed that payment for certain petitions through September 21, 2027. The administration reports that lottery registrations from the major IT staffing and outsourcing firms fell from 24,946 to 2,055, a 92% decline. That is the government’s own figure. Several policies changed at once, and a registration is not a hire. Even so, the drop is large enough to take seriously. On July 24, the First Circuit refused to stay the judgment vacating the fee in State of California v. Mullin; the immigration bar’s reading is that collection remains blocked, a price can be enjoined, and this one was, and what is left standing is the power to compare what a sponsor swore to against what its own payroll shows. Examiners cannot read motives. They can read records.
The article concludes:
The next president can quietly withdraw an order. Heritage’s November 25, 2025 report by Simon Hankinson recommended searchable monthly data on petitions, layoffs, complaints, and investigations, and Thursday’s text promises nothing of the kind. Without those numbers, workers and compliant employers have no way to tell an enforcement program from an annoucement. The administration should publish the reviews it opens, the violations it establishes, and the wages it recovers. Daniel Kishi of American Compass proposed in March that sponsors be required to post jobs domestically first and that displacement liability follow the work through the labor contractor to the company that benefits from it. Until that is statute, the client that hands its IT department to an outsourcer stays insulated from the layoffs that follow.
After the American engineer, the people with the most to gain from the review are the foreign professionals hired honestly. Their reputation is currently set by brokers like Dattapuram, and every invented job makes a real one look suspect. If Labor finds that the laid-off and the newly sponsored did different jobs, the sponsors lose a few weeks. If it finds what Disney’s technicians found in 2015, some of the largest names in American business have been swearing to things that weren’t true, and we will finally have it in writing.
This is definitely a step in the right direction.
From my friends at Power Line Blog:
The Numbers The Media Is Not Showing You
From an X post:
In case you are having trouble reading the numbers:
INFLATION
🟦 Biden: +12.3%
🟥 Trump: +4.3%
GROCERIES
🟦 Biden: +15.8%
🟥 Trump: +3.3%
GAS
🟦 Biden: +69%
🟥 Trump: +12%
RENT
🟦 Biden: +7.7%
🟥 Trump: +4.5%
ELECTRICITY
🟦 Biden: +19.1%
🟥 Trump: +8.4%
NEW & USED CARS
🟦 Biden: +23.9%
🟥 Trump: −1.2%
I know gasoline prices are high right now, but they will come down. We know the reason they are high. Unfortunately because previous administrations loved kicking the can down the road, we were faced with a choice between higher gasoline prices or Iran with a nuclear weapon. Our children and grandchildren will appreciate the fact that we (so far) have been willing to make that sacrifice.
The post at X states:
That doesn’t mean Americans aren’t feeling real affordability pressure. They ARE. But during Biden’s term, I REMEMBER the media making it feel like everything was fine but the opposite was felt by Americans in the real world. Today, it seems to be the opposite. People’s conditions are improving but the perception is that life is worse. That’s exactly why you have to separate how people feel, what they’re being told, and what the underlying data actually show. We’re heading toward the 2026 midterms.
A vote for Republicans in the mid-terms is a vote for a strong economy. A vote for the Democrats is a vote for less freedom and more regulations.
Trying To Keep Our Elections Secure
On Friday, The Federalist posted an article about Ohio’s Proof-Of-Citizenship Law.
The article reports:
A pair of election integrity groups are asking a federal appellate court to uphold Ohio’s law requiring proof-of-citizenship to vote, The Federalist has learned.
“Ohio is right to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote,” Honest Elections Project (HEP) Executive Director Jason Snead told The Federalist. “This case is yet another baseless attempt by left-wing activist litigants to create chaos in elections and to fight any reasonable steps states make to ensure that only citizens are registered to vote.”
Citizenship is a requirement to vote in federal elections. Some jurisdictions have allowed non-citizens to vote in local elections, but that is strictly a local matter. If you have to be a citizen to vote, why is having to prove you are a citizen even up for discussion?
The article notes:
Filed by HEP and the Center for Election Confidence (CEC) on Wednesday, the amicus brief obtained by The Federalist urges the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a temporary ruling by Ohio-based Senior District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. The Clinton appointee issued a preliminary injunction last month halting enforcement of a state requirement that individuals provide documentary proof-of-citizenship when registering to vote.
As described by Courthouse News, Oliver argued that the contested provision is “preempted by the National Voter Registration Act and increases the likelihood that U.S. citizens fail to register for elections.” The preliminary injunction “suspends the requirement for documentation ahead of the Oct. 5 registration deadline for the midterm election.”
How difficult is it to prove you are a citizen? A birth certificate, a social security card, a passport are accepted as proof of citizenship. A married woman may include her marriage certificate to show a name change. It’s really not that hard.
The article concludes:
HEP and CEC further contended that Ohio is likely to succeed on the merits of the case because the U.S. Constitution’s qualifications, electors, and elections clauses “give States exclusive authority to set and enforce voter qualifications in federal elections.” They argued that Ohio’s law complies with that authority and that “Congress lacks power to preempt it.”
“CEC is honored to support Ohio’s common-sense protection for the integrity of its elections,” CEC Executive Director Lisa Dixon told The Federalist. “Like millions of other Ohioans, the voters challenging the law offered proof of citizenship and registered to vote successfully, so this lawsuit should end now.”
At least 12 states have enacted laws requiring proof-of-citizenship in order to vote in elections, according to Ballotpedia.
About That ‘Buying Votes’ Thing
Recently at a rally, President Trump promised a $5000 check to Americans if the Republicans hold the Congress in the mid-term elections. Democrats and some Republicans were apoplectic. How dare he buy votes! What about the deficit! Well, I understand the concerns about the deficit, but how much of that deficit will we wipe out by ending fraud and gaining tariff income? Meanwhile, the Democrats are buying votes!
On Wednesday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about a program the Democrats have initiated in Texas.
The article reports:
Townhall Media caught Sky McAdams, an organizing manager for Texas Majority PAC, admitting to a scheme involving paying people to influence others to vote for Democrats.
You know they desperately want Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talerico to win.
You can’t pay someone to vote for a candidate, but apparently the PAC discovered a way around the rule.
The article includes the following video:
From the video:
MCADAMS: We are paying people $25 to attend a one-hour Zoom class to learn why voting is important and why the Republicans are causing all of these bad things. So it’s like a roundabout way of paying people for their votes, essentially, which is interesting.
PERSON RECORDING THE VIDEO: What’s the – what’s this called?
MCADAMS: It’s called the Paid Relational Program. I think rally Texas is the official name. You can’t pay someone to vote for someone. You can’t be like, “Here’s $25, go vote for me.” You can say, “Attend a one-hour class and you can receive $25.” And then the class just talks about the importance of…it’s a little gray.
PERSON RECORDING THE VIDEO: But right now we could use all the help we can get.
MCADAMS: If I was a Republican, I would be pissed. I would be like, “That’s shady as f**k.”
Relentless’s website admits that it recruits “low-propensity voters and compensates them for their time as they reach, persuade, and mobilize their friends and family to vote.”
The article concludes:
The Democrats are desperate. This scheme should not surprise anyone.
It also should not surprise anyone when absolutely nothing happens to Texas Majority PAC or Relentless.
Unfortunately, that’s where we are, folks!
Behind The Panic About Artificial Intelligence
After a while, you have to be sleeping not to recognize when a campaign is mounted to influence how you view something. Recently we have seen a campaign whose goal is to force Congress to regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI). Who is behind this campaign and why do they want government regulation?
On Tuesday, Issues & Insights posted an article about the AI panic that is currently being fed by the mainstream media.
The article asks the question:
Twelve years ago, Stephen Hawking said that “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”
Heck, Frank Herbert warned in his 1965 sci-fi classic, “Dune,” that “Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” Countless other sci-fi plots involved intelligent machines killing off or enslaving humans.
So, why is this latest warning getting so much traction? And why did Jacob Coxon, a relatively low-level former employee at Anthropic, become an instant media celebrity?
Sunday, the New York Times home page prominently featured four articles — all free to read — about AI. (See screenshot at right.)
Also over the weekend, the four biggest AI labs called for the industry to slow down development.
The article notes:
Reporters pressed Trump for his take on “concerns about AI leading to human extinction.” His response was that “We’re leading China in AI, we’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins.”
So, again, we ask, who is driving this narrative?
The media don’t seem to care. But there are clues. First is the fact that Democrats are playing it up for political reasons before the midterm elections. They want to win votes. Second is China, which would benefit from the U.S. putting itself into an AI straitjacket.
But there’s another clue. The urgent calls for regulations are coming from the leading AI companies.
Obviously China will benefit if America slows down AI and research into it, but there is another reason the companies involved want regulation. Regulation can create barriers for new companies in the industry. Making it harder for new companies to break into the industry will eventually create a monopoly formed by the companies already there.
Nothing reported in the media happens by accident.
Trump Report Card: Foreign Affairs
Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.
Judging the effectiveness of a president’s administration must include an evaluation of the administration’s actions in foreign policy and global security. The current conflict with Iran to prevent them from becoming a nuclear power is center stage right now. However, President Trump has taken additional actions that effect our relations with other countries.
First, most of the European countries that make up NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) have been relying on the United States for their military defense. These countries have not been spending the agreed-upon funds to support the organization (as required following WWII). President Trump has consistently pressured the countries of England, Germany, France, Spain, and others to increase defense spending. As a result, our NATO allies have increased their defense spending by $1.21 trillion. Much of this money has been spent purchasing American-made weapons and defense systems, boosting jobs and co-production opportunities in our country. The President has also shifted the primary responsibility for Europe’s defense back to Europe. No other president, since NATO was created, has held their feet to the fire in terms of their responsibility for their own defense. President Trump has also put the responsibility of supporting Ukraine on the European countries where it belongs and not totally on the United States.
Second, China has been increasingly looking for ways to align with countries in Latin and South America. For example, a Chinese corporation has been attempting to control the two ports that are at the ends of the Panama Canal. This essential waterway, which we built and controlled since 1914, was turned over to Panama in 1999 as part of President Carter’s controversial treaty. The concern that we would lose control to a foreign nation (like China) came to fruition when Panama allowed Chinese companies to control the exit and entrance ports (Cristobal and Balboa) and China began charging excess fees on American commercial and Navy ships. In January 2026, due to the pressure exerted by the Trump administration, Panama terminated their agreements with China and now allows the United States to deploy military personnel at the Canal and free transit by U.S. Navy ships. In other words, President Trump has reasserted the principles of the Monroe Doctrine that no other nation will control countries in our hemisphere. No other administration was willing to address this issue.
Third, President Trump took decisive action to arrest Nicholas Maduro, the communist dictator and drug trafficker of Venezuela. Maduro cancelled election results and increasingly aligned his government with China and Russia. On January 3, 2026 a joint military and law-enforcement raid involving more than 150 aircraft suppressed the Venezuelan air defenses, storming the military base where Maduro and his wife were staying. As a result, Maduro is now being held in an American prison pending trial for narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and weapons charges. In addition, the new acting leader of Venezuela has taken steps to re-align their country with the United States and away from China and Russia. A recently announced joint oil development program between the United States and Venezuela will increase our access to the largest oil reserves in the world and keep them away from Chinese control.
Fourth, President Trump has taken out the Iranian nuclear facilities and is pressuring their regime to agree not to pursue nuclear weapons in the future. It turns out that in spite of the puny efforts of Obama and Biden, Iran has been secretly expanding their nuclear programs with the help of China, Russia and North Korea. This should surprise no one who knows anything about Islam and its acceptable practices against infidels as allowed by the Koran. Let’s face it, as we found out on the attacks on the Trade Center on 9/11 when multiple terrorists committed suicide in order to inflict damage on infidels, the Islamist terrorists who run Iran are a death-cult for whom any and all actions against the hated infidels are acceptable. The idea that we would allow them to possess nuclear weapons is about as stupid as it gets. History shows us that extremists are willing to fight to the death for their evil intentions; for example, Adolf Hitler.
Now the price of defending freedom and our lives comes with a cost. We are now paying that cost in the form of increased fuel prices. Ask yourself whether protecting ourselves and the future generations of Americans is worth it. We shouldered the burden in WWI and WWII. It is our generation’s turn to step up to the plate. The results of this coming election will answer that question. God help us if we do not.
Looking Behind The Curtain
In approximately six weeks, Americans will go to the polls and vote in the mid-term elections. Spending in the mid-term elections is projected to exceed $1 billion. That is an indication of how important these elections are. Let’s look at some of the people who want the Democrats to win the mid-terms and what the consequences of that victory would be.
The European Union (EU) and Canada want the Democrats to win. There is currently a proposal to make Canada an ‘associate member’ of the European Union. Why would the EU do that? America and its freedom are the only thing standing between the EU and its dream of global dominance. Our current energy prices have a lot more to do with European exchange traders in London than they do with producers. If energy prices can be kept high through early November, those high prices could impact the mid-terms. America’s increased oil production and oil deal with Venezuela may help, but that won’t totally solve the issue.
If the Democrats win the mid-terms, what happens to the war in Iran? Chances are they will end the war without ending Iran’s nuclear program, and the can will be kicked down the road as it has been since 1979. I will predict that if the Democrats win the mid-terms, Iran will have a nuclear weapon within two years.
If the Democrats win the mid-terms, the tax cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill will go away. The price of energy will go even higher as government restrictions are put on drilling, electric plants, etc. There will also be an end to any plans for building more oil refineries in America (refineries that are desperately needed).
If Democrats win the mid-terms, you can also expect increased attacks on religious freedom. Right now there is a case in Maine where a mother who has custody of her daughter is being denied the right to take her daughter to church. In another state, the Little Sisters of the Poor are currently being sued because they refuse to take part in euthanasia. A daughter has been taken away from her parents in Massachusetts because they did not support her transitioning to a boy. You can expect more support for those things under a Democrat congress.
Today’s Democrat party is not the Democrat party of 1960. Unfortunately, they are not the patriots they used to be–it’s party first, personal glory second, and country third. If you chose to vote for a Democrat candidate in the mid-term elections, you will be denying your children and grandchildren the freedom and opportunities you grew up with.
Helping When Needed
On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about the help Israel is giving Saudi Arabia as Saudi Arabia is under attack by the Houthis.
The article reports:
Israel has begun providing intelligence to Saudi Arabia through the United States as Riyadh battles an escalating Houthi offensive that has struck deep inside the kingdom and threatened the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to multiple Israeli reports Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia initially turned to the United States for assistance, prompting Washington to approach Israel, which began transferring intelligence to Riyadh through U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), Israel’s Kan News reported, citing a diplomat from a regional country.
…The cooperation comes as the Houthis have expanded their campaign against Saudi Arabia, launching missiles and drones deep into the kingdom while advancing along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around Bab el-Mandeb.
Warning sirens sounded Tuesday in Mecca, Jeddah and Taif as the confrontation escalated, while Saudi and Yemeni forces continued striking Houthi positions in Yemen. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed Saudi warplanes carried out 52 strikes over the previous 24 hours and warned that the attacks “will not go unanswered.”
The article notes:
Pointing to Saudi Arabia’s new defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan, the official argued that “the latest escalation proves that, in practice, Erdogan’s defense pact isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
“Erdogan has handed Israel a golden opportunity to show the Saudis who they should align with,” the official continued.
The same assessment extended to the prospect of Saudi-Israeli normalization, with the official arguing that their shared interests could reopen a path toward expanding the Abraham Accords and saying Riyadh was now reassessing its course.
The emerging cooperation is particularly significant because Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, despite years of U.S.-backed efforts to secure a normalization agreement between the two countries.
For Riyadh, the immediate concern remains military. The Houthis have seized territory along Yemen’s western coast and strengthened their position around Bab el-Mandeb while attacks on Saudi territory and energy infrastructure have increased pressure on the kingdom to push back against the group and protect the strategic Red Sea passage.
The growing pressure around Bab el-Mandeb comes as the United States expands commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz following months of Iranian attempts to obstruct the waterway. U.S. officials told Axios that roughly 40 ships are now moving through the strait each day under American guidance and protection, carrying about 14 million barrels of oil a day, while Saudi Arabia has significantly increased tanker traffic through Hormuz as fighting around the Red Sea intensifies.
Maybe it’s time for Saudi Arabia to take another look at the Mecca Pact.
Providing Aid And Comfort To The Enemy
In case no one has noticed, we are at war. We are (hopefully) preventing a terrorist regime from gaining access to atomic weapons. Because they are also developing delivery systems that would allow those atomic weapons to reach us, we are concerned and want to stop them. Unfortunately, there are some very petty people in Congress who put their own pettiness above the interests of their country.
On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about Representative Thomas Massie’s filing of article of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The article reports:
Rep. Thomas Massie filed articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Tuesday for allegedly committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” by waging the Iran war without congressional approval.
…Attorney General Todd Blanche defended Hegseth while leading a press briefing in the Rose Garden.
“Secretary Hegseth is doing a phenomenal job, and the secretary of war doesn’t just go off and do things. He follows the law. And so the DOJ plays a role in that, and we play an active role in making sure the law is complied with,” Blanche told a Post reporter.
“You called it a war. I disagree with that characterization, as does most of Congress. And so there’s been votes on whether it’s a war and what to do.
“Why votes through Congress, which have determined that he’s not doing anything wrong and the president’s not doing anything wrong, should result in articles of impeachment — I guess you’ll have to talk to Massie about that.”
Massie (R-Ky.) made the surprise announcement on the House floor, accusing Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires congressional authorization to conduct military operations lasting longer than 90 days.
“Peter Brian Hegseth, in his capacity as Secretary of Defense, has executed unlawful orders in contravention of Section 2(c) of the War Powers Resolution of 1973,” Massie declared.
This is simply sour grapes because President Trump got tired of Massie’s shenanigans and supported his opponent in the primary election. As much as I don’t like war, I like the idea of Iran getting a nuclear bomb even less. I also think that if Americans had access to the intelligence that the President had before the war they would wholeheartedly support the war.