Rightwinggranny is adding some guest writers to the website this year. The opinions expressed by these writers are not necessarily the opinions of rightwinggranny.
One Consequence Of Closing The Border
Reply
On Thursday, Breitbart posted an article about one of the consequences of closing America’s southern border.
The article reports:
Profits for human smugglers, mainly the Mexican drug cartels, are down significantly, a Treasury Department report details, as President Donald Trump’s policies have drastically cut illegal immigration at the nation’s borders.
A Financial Trend Analysis report from the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) found that United States banks flagged some nearly $5 billion linked to potential human smuggling from 2023 to 2025.
“Many human smuggling networks generate profit for larger transnational criminal organizations, including Mexico-based drug cartels,” FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki said in a statement. “Suspicious activity flagged by financial institutions provides critical information, and we will continue to work closely with both the private sector and law enforcement to dismantle human smuggling networks and protect our borders.”
In particular, the report states that human smuggling-related transactions fell 62 percent in 2025, the first year of Trump’s second term, compared to 2024 when former President Joe Biden was in office.
The article notes:
“Again this month, the results are clear: President Trump’s border security agenda is restoring order and putting the safety of the American people first,” Mullin (Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin) said. “DHS remains focused on enforcing our immigration laws, securing the border, and ensuring those who enter our country illegally are removed swiftly.”
In July, fewer than 10,000 illegal aliens were apprehended crossing the southern border. Daily apprehensions, DHS officials said, are down 94 percent compared to the Biden administration.
Securing the border has a lot of financial consequences–human trafficking is down and payments to the cartels are down. Hitting the cartels in the pocketbook is one way to deal with them. It is going to take a lot more than that to get rid of them, but securing the border is a good first step.
Putting The Money Where It Is Needed
On Friday, updated Saturday, Just the News posted an article about a $5.3 billion in investments to improve national rail safety and upgrade Amtrak trains.
The article reports:
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Friday $5.3 billion in investments to improve national rail safety and upgrade Amtrak trains, diverting nearly half the money from California’s disastrously overpriced and stalled high-speed rail project championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
About $2 billion of the new Federal Railroad Administration investment will come from savings from Duffy’s decision to end federal support for the California project, which exploded to become seven times over budget and years delayed.
“I would love to see America have high-speed rail. I’m an advocate of it and for it,” Duffy told the Just the News, No Noise television show. “But when California has an initial cost estimate of $33 billion, but over the course of more than a decade, they don’t lay one track. And by the way, the cost projection now for that rail is $231 billion.
“Listen, we’re not going to invest in projects that don’t deliver for the American people. We’re going to invest in the projects that actually show that the hard work of an American taxpayer there’s a deliverable for the money that they give us, and so that’s one example,” he said.
Duffy told Just the News that the new funding will:
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- Close over 30 train crossings and upgrade over a thousand with new infrastructure and technology
- Purchase 43 Made-in-America train sets to replace Amtrak’s aging fleet
- Overhaul 41 locomotives currently serving Amtrak’s Midwest and Pacific routes.
Our railway system is not up to date. This is a much needed upgrade. Plowing money into a high-speed rail project for ten years without any track laid is inexcusable.
Ingenuity Saved Lives
National Geographic is releasing a new docuseries, “9/11 Reunited,” which premieres Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. The three-part series can also be streamed in its entirety the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.
The New York Post posted an article about the series on Saturday.
The article reports one of the stories that will be included in the series:
When al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center on 9/11, six strangers found themselves trapped in an elevator in a desperate fight for survival.
As the express elevator climbed to its first stop on the 67th floor, American Airlines Flight 11 plowed into the North Tower at 8:46 am, causing the elevator to shudder and free-fall down the shaft.
One of the passengers pushed an emergency button, but the elevator had already plummeted 15 stories before stopping near the 50th floor.
As a choking cloud of thick white smoke that smelled like chemicals began pouring into the cabin, panic wasn’t an option — it was a death sentence.
So the six men — including a window cleaner and two Port Authority officials — calmly pooled their brains and their brawn.
First, they worked together to open the stuck automatic metal doors with their hands.
But there was no exit on the other end — just a solid wall with the number “50” stenciled on it.
Then, a burst of MacGyver-level ingenuity from someone always on the outside looking in at the WTC.
Window cleaner and Polish immigrant Jan Demczur quickly whipped out the brass squeegee from the bucket by his feet and began frantically pecking at layers of drywall in a circular motion.
Some of the others worked in tandem, punching and kicking the drywall until there was a hole large enough for everyone to crawl out.
They landed in a men’s bathroom, where they met firefighters imploring them to leave.
I am looking forward to watching the docuseries. The stories of survival on that day are amazing and encouraging.
From my friends at Power Line Blog:
Something To Consider
I don’t necessarily agree with this article, but I thought it was interesting.
On Friday, American Greatness posted an article by Fred Fleitz titled, “Why Sharing Peaceful Nuclear Technology with Saudi Arabia and South Korea Strengthens America and Nonproliferation.”
Please follow the link and read the article completely, but here are a few highlights:
The recent U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal, which will allow Riyadh to build nuclear power reactors and enrich uranium for reactor fuel, represents President Trump’s leadership in strengthening and developing America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and promoting stability in the Middle East. It is also a long-overdue modernization of how the United States should share peaceful nuclear technology with trusted partners and will deliver major wins for U.S. industry. Like the nuclear deal with South Korea, the Saudi deal keeps sensitive nuclear technology under American influence rather than ceding it to rivals.
Both nuclear deals are a matter of trust. South Korea is a model member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and an ironclad U.S. ally. Saudi Arabia is a critical partner in a volatile region. By moving forward with these agreements, the United States is demonstrating confidence in close partners that have repeatedly proven their reliability.
Saudi Arabia is seeking peaceful nuclear power to diversify its energy mix, free up oil for export, and support its broader economic transformation. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have signed agreements that position American firms—led by companies such as Westinghouse with its AP1000 reactors—to design, build, and help operate those plants. This is a multi-decade, multi-billion-dollar opportunity. U.S. companies will construct the reactors and related infrastructure on Saudi soil. American technology, engineers, and supply chains will be at the center. High-paying jobs and industrial capacity will be created in the United States.
This deal also locks out Russia and China from spreading their less reliable nuclear technology with weaker safeguards.
The article concludes:
Critics are naturally raising concerns that these agreements will undo U.S. agreements and policies that have successfully restricted the spread of nuclear technology with weapons applications. Such critics include many Democrats as well as some Republicans. This criticism is ironic given that the Biden administration unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a similar arrangement with Saudi Arabia. Moreover, criticism that the Trump nuclear deals pose unacceptable proliferation threats ignores the fact that there are other, less scrupulous players standing ready to sell nuclear technology with little or no proliferation protections. The alternative to U.S.-led cooperation is not nuclear-free regions; it is regions in which others set the terms.
The Trump nuclear deals with Saudi Arabia and South Korea represent a modernized and pragmatic path forward with both nations. They deserve strong congressional support.
I totally respect Fred Fleitz’s opinion. His biography on the internet lists his achievements:
Fred Fleitz is former Chief of Staff of the Trump National Security Council and a Deputy Assistant to President Trump. He served for 25 years in US government national security positions for 25 years with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, and the House Intelligence Committee staff.
I just don’t know if I trust Saudi Arabia or if I believe South Korea will remain independent.
Putting Priorities In Order
On Wednesday, The Daily Caller posted an article announcing that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving her role at the end of the month. I am very sorry to see her go–she has been fantastic press secretary. She is leaving because she recently had her second child and wants to stay home and be a mother. Kudos to her for putting her family first.
The article reports:
President Donald Trump said Leavitt is departing her job as press secretary to spend more time with her family and young children. Leavitt, the president said, will remain an outside adviser.
“Our wonderful White House Press Secretary, and one of my most trusted aides, Karoline Leavitt, will be departing her role at the end of the month so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!” Trump wrote.
The article concludes with a statement from Karoline Leavitt:
The outgoing press secretary said in a statement that holding her position was an “honor and the adventure” of a lifetime. Leavitt just returned from maternity leave after having her second child in July.
“The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary — and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life,” she said.
Young children (and all children) need mothers. It is very difficult to balance a career and a family. Some women don’t have a choice, and they do very well balancing both. However, if you can, it’s wonderful to stay home and spend time with your children.
The Trump Economy
On Thursday, CNBC posted an article about the inflation numbers for July.
The article reports:
- The producer price index was flat in July compared with expectations for a 0.2% increase. Core PPI rose 0.2%, below the 0.3% forecast.
- PPI measures wholesale inflation and was the latest metric to show easing price pressures after months of gains.
The article notes:
Wholesale costs for goods and services were flat in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday in the latest positive sign for inflation.
The producer price index, a measure of underlying inflation pressures, was unchanged for the month, below the 0.2% Dow Jones consensus estimate and after falling 0.1% in June. The June figure was revised from a previously reported decline of 0.3%.
Excluding food and energy, the core PPI rose 0.2%, against the forecast for a 0.3% gain. The core PPI excluding trade services increased 0.4%.
On an annual basis, the headline PPI increased 4.7% for the all-items index and 4.2% for core, according to unadjusted figures.
The report follows several other indicators telling a similar story – that after a ramp-up in inflation earlier this year fueled by the Iran war and President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the rate of price increases is beginning to ease.
Stock market futures were positive after the report while Treasury yields were lower. Traders further reduced the odds for a September rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
The article concludes:
On Wednesday, the BLS reported that the consumer price index rose just 0.1% in July as falling energy prices during the month helped lower price pressures. However, the headline annual inflation rate of 3.4% was still well above the Fed’s goal.
Core consumer inflation was considerably tamer, posting a 0.2% monthly gain and 2.5% annual rate that put the level back to where it was prior to the start of the war.
Market expectations have switched in recent days, with traders now pricing in a rate hike in October or December after putting heavy odds that the Federal Open Market Committee would move at its next meeting on Sept. 15-16.
In other economic news Thursday, initial jobless claims rose to a seasonally adjusted 209,000 for the week ended Aug. 8, up 9,000 from the prior period and above the 204,000 estimate.
We need to remember that Rome was not built in a day. Inflation is gradually coming down, trade deficits are down, manufacturing jobs are up, and industries are moving back to America. These are all positive things that are the result of President Trump’s economic policies. If the Democrats are successful in the mid-term elections, most of these good things will disappear.
Accountability
On Wednesday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about the Southern Poverty Law Center. The organization has been charged with money laundering.
The article reports:
SPLC Chief Financial Officer Heidi Beirich was previously identified as one of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) leaders who assisted in “opening bank accounts” with “fictitious companies’ names” to make payments to hate group leaders. Apparently, she was in a romantic relationship with a Nazi whom she funded.
According to CNN: Beirich has been charged as part of a superseding indictment with wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to conceal money laundering.
Obviously, the CNN reporting of the story has a slightly different slant than The Conservative Treehouse story.
CNN reports:
The SPLC has fought the case, arguing that the government is mischaracterizing a long-standing informant program designed to gather intelligence on hate groups, and accused the Justice Department of charging them for political reasons. Attorneys for the SPLC have also said that law enforcement officials have used information gathered by the organization’s informants in the past.
The charges are part of the Justice Department’s case against the SPLC over the alleged payments, which prosecutors say were done through shell companies. In earlier court documents, the department gave details on nine unnamed informants it says received payments through the program, which began in the 1980s.
Despite her role in overseeing the payments — some of which were directed to an Imperial Wizard in the KKK — Beirich allegedly had a romantic relationship with one source who infiltrated a White Supremacy group and stole documents for the SPLC, according to the indictment.
…The documents that person allegedly stole were used as part of an article that the SPLC later published. Beirich then allegedly paid a second informant $6,000 to take the fall for the stolen documents.
“Dr. Beirich is innocent, and this case is without merit,” her attorney, Michael J. Proctor said in a statement. “We believe the charges against her and the SPLC are politically motivated, and Dr. Beirich has been targeted in this case because of the important work she has done to combat hate groups and extremists.”
When you can’t defend yourself with facts, you simply claim that the charges are politically motivated. That is straight out of the Clinton handbook on how to handle scandals!
The Crime Rate Is Going Down Significantly
On Tuesday, PJ Media posted an article about the changes in the crime rate in the big cities of America. The title of the article is “Trump Is to Blame for Record Low Crime Rate in Big Cities.”
The article reports:
For those who might look askance at the headline to this article, I can only point out the obvious: Donald Trump would have been blamed if the big cities’ crime rate rose, so that must mean that he gets the credit (or blame) when the rate of violent crime reaches historic lows.
…Today, the crime rate in big cities is at or near historic lows. The Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) and the Regional Justice Information Service (RJIS) publish biannual crime statistics for major cities based on FBI data and local police reports.
“Following the historic 30% increase in homicide from 2019 to 2020, CCJ’s last report estimated that the 2025 national homicide rate will likely be at its lowest level since at least 1900,” the joint report says. “Trends through the first half of 2026 show that the decline, which began in the second half of 2022, has continued, advancing well beyond the “return to normal” phase seen after the spike in 2020.”
How did this happen? “Researchers and practitioners have pointed to a range of possible influences, including changes in criminal justice operations and strategies, technological advances, and broad shifts in society and culture,” the report notes.
The article concludes:
In the first half of 2026, the Nation’s capital reported 46 homicides, down 43.9% from 82 in the first half of 2025. Even before the National Guard was deployed, the murder rate was declining. It cratered after the Guard came to town, as did other violent-crime indices.
As the CCJ makes clear, it wasn’t a single factor that led to the decline. But some factors contributed more to the drop in violent crime than others. I would say more guns in the hands of citizens and the increase in incarceration for violent criminals had significantly more impact than “violence prevention” efforts and “prisoner re-entry programs” did.
However you look at it, and for whatever reason, this is good news. The violent crime rate is still far higher than it should be, and removing impediments to bringing it down further should be the work of Congress.
I am looking forward to visiting Washington this fall. I can’t wait to see the changes in the city.
Pot, Meet Kettle
On Wednesday, Victor Davis Hanson posted an article at The Daily Signal about some of the precedents set by the Democrat party in years past.
The article reports:
Recently, the Left in general and Democrats in particular have been criticizing a lot of things that this administration has done. This came up with the confirmation hearings of Attorney General Todd Blanche, and people suggested that, though he may have been qualified, he had too close a relationship as a personal attorney, or he acted in a legal capacity with [President] Donald Trump, and therefore there would be an incestuous relationship between the [Justice Department] and the White House.
But who broke that standard? I think it was broken during the JFK administration. John F. Kennedy, the Democratic president, appointed his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general. They conferred daily. If we were worried that that was an aberration, remember Eric Holder bragged that he was, quote, Obama’s wingman. So, the Democrats have had a long history of a close relationship between the DOJ and the White House.
We’ve been told that the Democratic Party is very angry because some local, i.e., state or county or municipal, prosecutors might take a look at Anthony Fauci and see if he had criminal exposure other than federal exposure. And people said, well, what business do these local prosecutors have looking at Anthony Fauci, who was a federal bureaucrat? And if he did anything wrong, it would be a federal offense. You can’t have freelancing prosecutors all over the United States going after—yes, you can. We established that principle with Donald Trump.
Remember that Letitia James went after him for a real estate deal in which Deutsche Bank, the lender, had no problem with the loan as it was conducted. She was the attorney general of New York. Alvin Bragg could not get Donald Trump on anything other than to bootstrap a federal campaign violation that even federal prosecutors didn’t want to touch. He was just the municipal DA of Manhattan.
The article goes on to cite the charges of a partisan IRS, election denying, and weaponizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and how those charges relate to past Democrat actions.
Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It includes great examples of the pot calling the kettle black.
Lied To Again
When money is more important than human life, bad things happen. The Covid vaccine is a glaring example of that. The two proven successful treatments for Covid were squelched so that the vaccine could be given emergency approval and the vaccine companies could make a killing (literally). We are now learning about the contrast between what was said publicly about the risks of the Covid vaccine vs. what was said privately.
On Monday, Fox News reported:
Dr. Anthony Fauci privately discussed concerns about COVID-19 mRNA vaccines for pregnant women in January 2021, including questions about fever after a second dose and a theoretical risk of miscarriage during the first trimester, according to newly released text messages obtained from his government-issued cell phone.
The exchange involved Fauci, then-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Dr. Vivek Murthy, who would later become former President Joe Biden’s surgeon general.
Fauci said, because many people experience significant cytokine-related symptoms and fever after a second dose, that reaction “theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester,” according to the messages shown on page two of documents released Monday by Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rand Paul, R-Ky.
“The text chain released today could have an immediate impact [on] public health and the principle of informed consent,” Johnson’s press release read.
Please follow the link above to read the text messages. Having a miscarriage is heartbreaking. Discovering that the medical advice you were given might have caused the miscarriage has to be devastating. The people who lied to the public belong in jail.
The Manufacturing Boom
On Tuesday, The Daily Signal posted an article about what is happening to manufacturing in America.
The article reports:
Beneath the cacophony of media noise, an important untold story emerges: A manufacturing boom is unfolding across America right now, and especially so in the geographic center of the country.
This developing boom represents an epochal shift because investments in factories and tangible production involve the stickiest kind of capital expenditures. The commitment to production involves a macro “bet” on a yearslong cycle, not a near-term wager on the latest fad or concerns about the price of gasoline next week.
As such, this mostly hidden story deserves to be studied and amplified, both for the economic benefits and also for the possible political windfall for candidates on the populist right.
But before considering the import of this shift, it’s important to look at the numbers, the verifiable on-the-ground data sets that prove this new reality. The most-watched gauge of productive activity, the ISM Manufacturing Index, just surged to a fresh four-year high. Specifically, that ISM reading stands at 55 now, well above the 50 mark, which signals expansion. It has been rising for seven months.
In addition, manufacturing employment is rising, similarly marking a new four-year record high. These jobs are high-paying, family-sustaining roles that make our whole society stronger, not part-time “hustles” or gig economy transitions.
The article explains the cause of the manufacturing boom:
How has this renaissance unfolded?
The answer is solid policy. First, the Trump administration insists on fair and reciprocal trade. Gone are the days of America tolerating abusive and predatory trade tactics, particularly China’s.
But even aside from our Chinese Communist Party opponents, allies and “friends” abused America economically as well. For instance, Western Europe massively subsidized exports to the U.S. through its VAT taxation system, making their goods far more affordable for Americans than U.S. goods sent across the Atlantic. Such non-tariff trade barriers have been smartly exposed and repelled by the new American approach to trade.
The article concludes:
America is welcoming a quiet but very real manufacturing renaissance. Admittedly, public economic sentiment remains skeptical right now, which is understandable after 5 years of untenable inflation. But these epochal trends in manufacturing suggest that recent pronounced blue-collar real wage gains, meaning pay adjusted for the cost of living, will only accelerate going forward.
Turning to electoral politics, the legacy media sadly has no interest in covering this huge story. Thus, it is incumbent on our movement and our candidates to broadcast the good news of a very real trend that points to far more Main Street prosperity ahead.
The good economic news has a way of slipping between the cracks when a Republican is in the White House.
The Latest News On Inflation
On August 12, Breitbart posted an article about the current inflation rate.
The article reports:
Consumer prices inched up in July after declining sharply in June.
The consumer price index rose 0.1 percent compared with June, the Department of Labor said Wednesday. Compared with a year ago, the consumer price index is up 3.4 percent.
That matched the consensus forecast. In June, prices fell 0.4 percent while the consumer price index was up 3.5 percent from a year ago.
Core prices, a measure that excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent compared with the previous month. For the year, core prices are up 2.5 percent, a decline in year-over-year inflation from the previous month’s 2.6 percent.
The moderate monthly readings across all times and core inflation, along with the decline in the year-over-year inflation rate, will likely ease concerns among Fed officials. Prices of fed funds futures implied the odds of a rate hike at the Fed’s next meeting in September fell from nearly 50 percent to around 40 percent.
Goods prices fell 0.2 percent, the second consecutive monthly decline. Excluding food and beverages, goods prices dropped 0.4 percent. Durable goods prices rose 0.3 percent after declining in May and remaining flat in June.
The goal of the Federal Reserve is to keep inflation at 2 percent; however, their policies seem to reflect politics more than inflation strategy.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) notes:
The last time the United States experienced an average inflation rate of around 2% was in 2021, when the annual inflation rate was approximately 4.7%, but it had been lower in previous years, specifically around 2.1% in 2018. The Federal Reserve typically aims for a long-term inflation target of 2%.
AI notes:
Overview of Federal Reserve Interest Rates (2016-2024)
The following points summarize key trends and changes in interest rates during this period.
- Initial Rate (2016) — The federal funds rate was set at 0.25% in December 2015 and remained unchanged until December 2016.
- Gradual Increases (2017-2018) — The Fed raised rates several times, reaching 2.50% by December 2018.
- COVID-19 Response (2020) — In March 2020, rates were cut to near zero (0-0.25%) to support the economy during the pandemic.
- Inflationary Pressures (2021-2022) — Rates remained low until inflation concerns prompted increases starting in March 2022.
- Current Rate (2024) — As of 2024, the federal funds rate is approximately 5.25%, reflecting ongoing efforts to manage inflation.
During the first two years of the first Trump administration, interest rates were raised. In 2020, rates were lowered and remained low halfway through the Biden administration.
Draw your own conclusions.
The Courts Battle It Out With The President
On August 12, The Federalist posted an article about a recent decision by a three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The article reports:
A federal appellate court handed the Trump administration a win on Tuesday in its bid to fast-track the deportation of paroled foreign nationals brought in the United States by former President Biden.
In its per curiam ruling, a three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court blockade against the Department of Homeland Security’s directives suggesting officials use expedited removal to speedily deport migrants. The decision throws out an August 2025 ruling by Biden-appointed District Judge Jia Cobb, who claimed that the migrants “played by the rules” and the federal government subsequently “changed the game.”
…According to The Washington Times, paroling foreign nationals into the country “became a loophole to the usual border controls” under the Biden administration. The Democrat president reportedly allowed in “Afghans, Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Ukrainians and Venezuelans who flew into the U.S., plus a large swath of other migrants who reached the U.S.-Mexico border and preregistered their arrival.”
A former immigration judge told the outlet that the prior administration paroled an estimated 2.9 million migrants during its four years in power.
In its Tuesday decision, the D.C. Circuit held that the plaintiffs suing the Trump administration over its bid to expeditiously remove the migrants lacked standing to challenge the government’s directives. There were no noted dissents.
The article concludes:
Tuesday’s ruling is the latest legal win for the Trump administration in its bid to remove foreign nationals from the United States.
In June, the D.C. Circuit overturned a separate injunction by Cobb that attempted to block the government’s bid to expand the expedited removal process to increase the deportation of illegal aliens throughout the country. That decision came days before the Supreme Court sided with the administration in its efforts to end Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of noncitizens registered under the program.
A country that does not have borders is not a country.
Hiding The Evidence
On August 12, Just The News posted an article about how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) handled whistleblowers’ reports on the Biden family corruption.
The article reports:
The FBI and U.S. spy agencies received derogatory evidence about Joe Biden from 14 different informants but embarked on a secret operation to tamp down a Ukrainian corruption scandal engulfing his family during the 2020 election by formally designating Attorney General Bill Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, key members of Congress and journalists as Russian disinformation “conduits,” according to explosive intelligence community documents declassified by the White House.
A spreadsheet that was recovered from U.S. intelligence agency files and made public Wednesday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force shows that spy agencies and the FBI created a list of more than six dozen prominent organizations, Americans or foreigners who became figures in the Biden family Ukraine scandal and the 2019 impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
…In some ways, the Round River operation is a mirror opposite of the Russia collusion probe known as Crossfire Hurricane in which the FBI pursued unsubstantiated allegations spread by Democrats that Trump and his allies conspired with Vladimir Putin to hijack the 2016 election. In Round River, FBI analysts sought to dismiss significant evidence in the bureau’s possession, including Hunter Biden’s own laptop, pointing to possible corruption by the Bidens.
…Remarkably, the effort to portray the Biden scandal as Russian disinformation came even though confidential human sources working for the FBI and other agencies began reporting a steady stream of concerns starting in 2015 that Ukraine was possibly targeting the future first family for influence, the memos show. The FBI has identified at least 14 informants who were providing derogatory information on the Bidens, according to an FBI letter made public Wednesday.
Tucker Carlson recently interviewed Hunter Biden. In that interview, they both blamed the laptop scandal on Israel. Despite evidence to the contrary, Hunter Biden claimed he never dropped his computer off for repair. Hunter Biden is currently on the podcast interview circuit trying to clean up his image. It may well be that either Hunter Biden or Tucker Carlson (or both) have future political plans.
Fighting Absurdity With Absurdity
On Saturday, The Dallas Express posted an article about two basketball players who have asked to be included in the 2027 Women’s National Basketball Association draft. The two players are Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, both retired National Basketball League players.
The article reports:
A second former NBA player has declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft.
Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White have announced plans to pursue the 2027 WNBA Draft, arguing that the league’s current eligibility rules do not clearly define who qualifies as a “woman” or establish a specific “transgender” eligibility standard.
Royce White was the first to publicly declare his intentions. On August 4, 2026, the former NBA player posted on X: “I’m now transgender. I’m going to pursue a career in the WNBA… I identify as a sometimes identifying trans woman. I wish to be treated fairly and don’t want to be discriminated against. This is a serious pursuit. I realize after 35 years, I’m actually a woman.”
Three days later, on August 7, Enes Kanter Freedom posted a detailed video announcement formally declaring himself a WNBA prospect for the 2027 draft, stating he had reviewed the league’s eligibility guidelines on self-identification and inclusion.
White then expanded on his earlier comments that same day in an interview with Fox News Digital, noting that he had already made his declaration first.
“How you gonna pass up on a 6-foot-8, 270-pound point forward?” White told Fox News/Outkick Sports.
Freedom is 6-foot-10 and listed at 250 pounds during his career, while White is listed at 6-foot-8 and over 260 pounds.
The article concludes:
The declarations come during an ongoing WNBA debate over “transgender” participation in women’s sports that intensified after Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham publicly opposed allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports in July.
“I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” Cunningham told ESPN.
Freedom and White have framed their moves as tests of consistency with stated inclusion principles rather than formal entries into the league.
The 2027 WNBA Draft is scheduled for April. White has indicated possible legal action if denied participation based on identity. Formal eligibility determinations would occur closer to the draft process.
Stay tuned.
Protecting The President Is A Priority
Every President serves with the risk of assassination. President Trump, however, seems to have weathered a few more attempts that usual. The Secret Service is doing their job, and recently in Turkey the Secret Service did something out of a James Bond movie.
On August 11, The New York Post reported:
New details are emerging about President Trump’s great escape from Ankara last month with the revelation that he was smuggled off Air Force One by a Turkish airport catering truck to board a different military jet.
Trump’s exit from the annual NATO conference — within reach of Iranian missiles — already stoked weeks of intrigue over his purported use of an older version of Air Force One instead of the luxurious Qatar-gifted aircraft on which he arrived.
Trump actually used a third plane in an elaborate ruse that fooled not only Iran, but also the traveling press pool and some members of the president’s own staff.
…It’s unclear which other officials joined Trump in the truck, though he’s typically accompanied by a doctor and staffers designated to maintain contact with the military and White House chief of staff’s office.
The fresh reporting raised new questions, including whether there was a specific threat to Trump’s life, rather than a vague concern involving the Iran conflict.
The White House has not denied the Washington Post’s account, which cited two sources, including at least one US official.
The article concludes:
Hours before his stealth relocation to the third plane, Trump spoke about Iranian leaders wanting to kill him. That week, funeral processions for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei featured banners threatening to kill the US president.
When a New York Post reporter asked Trump at a news conference in Ankara whether he was ditching the new plane due to threats from Iran, the president responded that “I’m number one on the kill list” for the Islamic Republic, but declined to elaborate further.
When another journalist pressed Trump on his publicly stated plane swap, the president insisted he sent the Qatari jet out of Turkey “so the soldiers can see it, because it’s truly magnificent.”
The deception — and its revelation — are incredibly rare if not unprecedented.
Then-President Bill Clinton similarly used Air Force One as a decoy in 2000 during a high-risk trip to Pakistan, but at least some reporters were aware ahead of time and the ploy was revealed publicly upon arrival.
Notice he left the reporters on the original plane. Hmmm.
It Just Gets Uglier
I remember how hopeful I was when Jeff Sessions was chosen to be President Trump’s Attorney General. I also remember how disappointed I was when he recused himself from the Russian collusion probes. Well, we now might have the answer as to why that happened.
On Monday, Just The News reported:
The FBI opened a probe into sitting Attorney General Jeff Sessions in May 2017 for potentially making false statements to Congress about Russian contacts even though he had already updated the disputed testimony, newly declassified documents show.
The evidence to support the probe — codenamed MARCH TOLL and opened one day after FBI Director James Comey was fired by President Donald Trump — was a weeks-old letter from Democrats and an article from a liberal news site, the memos show.
The bureau’s investigative files into the Sessions matter were declassified by President Donald Trump and made public Monday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force.
The investigation was predicated on evidence contained in a March 20, 2017, letter to Comey from two Democrat senators on the Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Al Franken of Minnesota.
The senators argued that Sessions made false statements in his confirmation hearing earlier that year when he testified about communications with members of the Russian government.
A Trump administration official told reporters the timing of the investigation raises concerns because it was opened right after Comey’s firing and more than a month and a half after the Democratic senators wrote to the FBI.
The article notes:
Sessions sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 6 to supplement his prior testimony, confirming that he did, in fact, meet with the Russian ambassador twice during the campaign season, but that his answer, “I didn’t have–did not have communications with the Russians […]” was truthful because Franken asked about a “continuing exchange of information during the campaign” between agents of the campaign and the Russian government.
“I did not mention communications I had had with the Russian Ambassador over the years because the question did not ask about them,” Sessions wrote in the letter.
…However, the FBI did not act on the letter until the day after President Trump fired FBI Director Comey, citing a Justice Department belief that Comey mishandled the Hillary Clinton email investigation. The department’s own independent Inspector General would later conclude that Comey “violated long-standing department practice and protocol” with his conduct in the Clinton case.
The FBI’s opening memo shows that the investigation into Sessions was first opened at the FBI’s Washington Field Office at the direction of headquarters solely predicated on the March 20 letter from Sens. Leahy and Franken. The file also noted that Comey notified then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on April 28 that the case would be opened.
Please follow the link to read the entire article. I believe this explains a lot about the behavior of Jeff Sessions. It also may explain how the Democrats have turned so many of the Republicans in Congress into spineless weenies. If someone threatens you with being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), you tend to do what they request.
Posted by my friends at Townhall:
Challenging Absurdity With Absurdity
The WNBA has had some challenges lately. Two recent articles at The Gateway Pundit have reported on some of those challenges.
On August 7th, The Gateway Pundit reported:
A former NBA player has set the internet ablaze after issuing the ultimate challenge to the ultra-woke WNBA’s self-proclaimed tolerance and inclusion policies to the trans community: announcing he will join the league in the coming months.
Enes Kanter Freedom, a Turkish player who played for five NBA franchises over his 11-year career, went viral on Friday after announcing he would identify as female and declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft.
He told America that he and his lawyers knew he was ‘qualified’ to participate after a careful review of the WNBA’s self-identification requirements.
Kanter Freedom added that his intention was “not to mock, make fun of, or disrespect any community or personal choices.” All he wants is for the current rules “to be applied equally to everyone.”
On August 8th, The Gateway Pundit reported:
The league is launching task-force meetings and “listening sessions” as two former NBA players demand to know whether its women-only eligibility rule is based on sex or self-identification.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has rushed out a memo to teams nationwide on Friday after former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White declared themselves eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft by identifying as women.
In the memo, obtained by the Associated Press, Engelbert tried to walk a tightrope, admitting the issue of transgender (biological male) participation will keep drawing “significant attention” while labeling it a “complex and nuanced topic.”
Engelbert wrote that the league will “always approach this topic thoughtfully, respectfully, and in alignment with the longstanding values of our league.”
I realize that it would totally ruin the league, but I would love to see what would happen if Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White actually played in a WNBA game.
Meanwhile, let’s just admit the obvious–there are differences between men and women, and some of those differences result in more athletic ability and stamina for men. There are exceptions, but they are rare.
Pouring Money Into Something Without Ever Addressing The Root Problem
On August 10, The New York Post posted at article about the causes of death among New York City’s homeless population. The fact that almost half of the deaths among the homeless were alcohol or drug related shouldn’t surprise anyone.
The article reports:
Almost half of the deaths of New York City’s homeless population were tied to drugs and alcohol, an eye-opening new report found.
Some 285 of the 634 homeless residents who died in a one-year stretch from 2024-25 lost their lives because of drug addiction, overdoses or alcoholism, the Departments of Health and Social Services/Homeless Services said in its 2026 report.
The analysis, which covers documented deaths from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, includes deaths in temporary shelters as well as on the streets, in subways, abandoned properties or while in an acquaintance’s home.
…Authors of the report said the numbers are likely undercounted due to difficulties tracking thousands of migrants served by other agencies operating temporary encampments during the border crisis at the Mexican border.
“Some of the tens of thousands of new migrants provided shelter by H+H [Health+Hospitals], HPD [Housing Preservation and Development] and New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) could have died and not be identified as homeless decedents since DOHMH did not receive data from these agencies for matching,” the report said.
The top five leading causes of death in FY25 were drug-related (40% or 251), heart disease (12% or 78), accidents excluding drug overdose (9% or 60), alcohol misuse/dependence (5% or 34), and cancer (4% or 23).
The article notes:
The report found a positive trend.
The number of deaths among persons experiencing homelessness dropped by nearly 18%, from 770 in the prior 2024 fiscal year to 634 in FY 2025.
Drug-related deaths remained the leading cause of death among the homeless population, consistent with prior city and national trends.
Drug-related deaths plummeted 28%, from 348 (45% of the total) in FY 2024 to 251 (40%) in FY 2025.
That drop might have a lot to do with the border security policies instituted by President Trump.
Homelessness is not always related to poverty or the cost of housing. There are much deeper issues, including mental illness. To blame homelessness on the cost of housing is naive at best. To blindly provide hotels for the homeless does not solve the long-term problem. In some cases it does not even provide a workable temporary solution.
Until a successful program is developed that includes getting off drugs, finding gainful employment, and providing mental health services, the homeless are going to be with us.
When Politics Ruins Sports
The Women’s National Basketball Association has received a fairly significant amount of viewership this year as opposed to other years. Two of the reasons are Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham. Both are excellent players who have made news for reasons other than their play. Caitlin Clark has had a target on her back since she entered the league, and Sophie Cunningham has at time operated as Caitlin’s enforcer and at other times spoken out against men in women’s sports.
On August 9th, The Daily Caller reported:
A WNBA player torched by referees for a violent foul turned to social media and pointed at race.
Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington drew a flagrant 2 and an ejection Saturday for a hard foul on Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, then posted the words “WHITE PRIVILEGE” on her Threads account and tagged the Fever.
The foul landed late in the first quarter of a game Indiana won 90-86. Cunningham was out ahead of the pack on a fast-break layup when Carrington chased her down and struck her across the face and neck, dropping her to the floor as the shot fell, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Officials initially assessed a flagrant 1, then upgraded it after review, citing windup, impact and follow-through on the play.
Cunningham rejected any suggestion that race played a part. “I think the league is taking care of that. This has nothing to do with race. Last year, I did the same thing and I got kicked out. And I deserved to be kicked out. There’s no reason even to play that card,” she said, according to ESPN.
When you commit a foul in a game, you should be called on it. Your race should not come into play (it didn’t in this situation). Playing the race card is ridiculous. What Carrington is asking for is not having a foul called when one is committed because she is black. That is racism.
I think there is more soap opera in the current WNBA than there is on daytime television.
Todd Blanche Has Been Confirmed As Attorney General
On Saturday, Legal Insurrection reported that Todd Blanche has been confirmed as Attorney General.
The article reports:
The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as Attorney General early Saturday, permanently placing President Donald Trump’s former personal criminal defense attorney in charge of the Justice Department. Critics argued the transfer of authority was an unprecedented conflict of interest; the administration’s allies insisted it was a straightforward exercise of presidential appointment power.
Blanche was confirmed 50-49. Senators. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined every Democrat in opposing the nomination. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was absent due to his ongoing health issues.
Blanche has served as acting Attorney General since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April. Before that, he was Deputy Attorney General, confirmed in March without any Republican defections. His latest confirmation was considerably more difficult.
Republicans raised concerns on three fronts: the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files; a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, established as part of a settlement of Trump’s lawsuit over his tax returns, that critics feared would compensate January 6 defendants; and an IRS immunity provision shielding Trump and his family from future audits, a measure with no clear statutory basis that drew objections from tax law practitioners across the political spectrum.
First of all, the two biggest problems in the first Trump administration were the constant lawfare against President Trump and the fact that not all of his cabinet members were people he could trust. I am totally in favor of this appointment because a President deserves an Attorney General who will not stab him in the back.
The article concludes:
Blanche joined Trump’s legal team in 2023, leaving a partnership at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. He represented Trump in the hush-money trial, helped win the Supreme Court’s landmark presidential immunity ruling, and secured dismissal of the classified-documents indictment in Florida. Trump later tapped him as Deputy Attorney General, saying he would fix a justice system “broken” by years of political weaponization.
As Attorney General, Blanche now holds permanent authority over an institution he has already spent months reshaping. The confirmation changes little operationally, as he has been running the department since April, but it removes the political vulnerability of acting status and gives him a freer hand. Whether the written assurances he made to secure Republican votes constrain him in practice, or whether they dissolve the moment the Senate leaves town for recess, is the question that will define his tenure.
Getting History Right
On July 28, RealClearPolitics posted an article about some new signs the National Park Service hung at the President’s House Site in Independence Park, where George Washington lived as president while Philadelphia was the nation’s capital.
The article reports:
The site’s previous exhibit, opened during the Obama administration, was spurred by leftist activists like the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition. As ATAC (pronounced “attack”) said in an amicus brief filed in federal court, it “embedded” itself in the site’s “development.” ATAC has sponsored “Anti-July Fourth Day” events, while its founder, Michael Coard, says that “July Fourth is a celebration of … rapes, castrations, lynchings, and enslavement,” and those who celebrate it are “traitors” who “embrace whiteness” and “the 1776 birth of the racist American nation.”
…The new signs suffer under no such illusions. Instead, in the words of Third Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hardiman, “These new panels are full of historical context.”
But Americans should judge for themselves.
The old signs described Washington’s actions as “deplorable,” “profoundly disturbing,” and as having “mocked the nation’s pretense to be a beacon of liberty.” The new signs observe that Washington “often expressed discomfort” with slavery and “a desire to see it abolished,” yet “as a Virginia plantation owner, his wealth and livelihood were deeply tied to it.” They note that he “signed legislation that both upheld and limited slavery,” including banning it in the Northwest Territory (the current Midwest). They highlight that he “helped draft the Fairfax Resolves at Mount Vernon,” calling for putting “an entire Stop” to the “wicked” slave trade. They observe, “Among all of the Founders, Washington carried out the largest manumission of enslaved people” through his will.
The old signs essentially ignored the Civil War’s existence, even omitting it from a “Slavery Timeline.” As the new signs note, Abraham Lincoln said that most Americans, like the founders, viewed slavery as “a vast moral evil.” But it “took Lincoln and a bloody Civil War to finish the work that the Founders had begun and end slavery in the United States once and for all.”
The article concludes:
No one can reasonably say that the new signs neglect slavery, or lack nuance. For example, the signs note that slaves living there were at times “able to explore the city and sometimes even attend the theater, with Washington buying the tickets.” ATAC’s Coard finds this claim particularly objectionable, yet it’s true: Washington biographer Ron Chernow writes in “Washington: A Life” that slaves at the house enjoyed “a modicum of freedom to roam the city,” citing financial records: “Household accounts for June 1792 disclose expense money doled out for ‘Austin, Hercules & Oney to go to the play.’”
In truth, it is the woke left that eschews complexity in its telling of America’s history. By embracing nuance and accuracy at the President’s House Site, the Trump administration has done the American public – and George Washington – a great service.
Yes, slavery is part of America’s past as it was part of most nations at that time. Yes, slavery is wrong, and it would have been nice for the U.S. Constitution to have outlawed it, but that would have prevented the U.S. Constitution from ever becoming the law of the land. Our past is not perfect, but we need to work toward a more perfect future.
From my friends at Townhall:
