Monthly Archives: June 2025

A View From The Lair

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HALLELUJAH!

My birthday was yesterday, but that’s fine I’ll take a belated gift any day. I never thought that I would say “thank you” to Thom Tillis (RINO-NC) But today he gave me and the rest of the NC Republicans a gift.

HE’S QUITING!

Rather than split the party by running again, getting primaried and possibly (probably) losing either in the primary or to Roy Cooper in the general, he’s not going to run.

Regardless how despicable a candidate is, before the primary the NC GOP cannot endorse a candidate until they win the primary election. There is a lot of tradition and loyalty in the GOP. When at the NC GOP State convention two years ago, a proposal to censure Tillis was brought from the floor. The major debate was not that he deserved the censure, but that it would show disloyalty to the party. Thom was our senator, like him or not, and to censure him, regardless of whether he deserved it or not, was to disrespect and be unsupportive to our state senator. It was a close vote. I stood with the majority. After all, if you allow bad behavior to continue and flourish then you will continue to get more bad behavior.

I noticed a bit of a more conciliatory attitude from our senator for a while. At least in his e-mails. But he still continued to act like a RINO. Which is to say, like a demonrat. He is very supportive of “bipartisanship.” Unfortunately, his idea of “bipartisanship” is exactly like the Marxist’s version – give them what they want and shut up. Even Jeff Flake, the demonrat stooge, exalted Thom for standing on his “principles.” Not that Flake has any nor can even define the term, but he is at least supportive of Tillis. Which shows you how badly the Marxists will miss Tillis.

(While writing this I received a text urging me to contact Thom and encourage him to change his vote. Give me a break!)

When I first read about this my first reaction was “what’s the catch?” Is he going to not run at all? Or perhaps not run as a republican but instead challenge Cooper for the demonrat ticket?

But it certainly saves us a lot of headaches. There will be no angst over whether to support Thom at the expense of losing the general to Cooper, nor who to support in the plethora of candidates eager to primary him. It would resemble the primary in NYC. And we saw how well that worked out.

The second question is how much damage can he do before next year? He has nothing to lose to go full dummycrat. He doesn’t have to change parties. He just has to remain the same, with no incentive to actually act like a conservative.

Because that’s all he can do, is act.

And he’s a bad actor.

Bubbles Up!

The Snark

Two Weeks That Changed America And The World

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On Sunday, Clarice Feldman posted an article at The American Thinker about the last two weeks of the Trump administration. The successes of the Trump administration in the past two weeks include tariff negotiations, peace deals in various locations, lower inflation, closing the border, and deporting illegal aliens. The article chooses to concentrate on Iran and the Supreme Court.

The article reports:

Despite CNN and much of the legacy media misusing a leaked preliminary assessment (of “low confidence”) the bombing was of great value to both Israel and the United States. 

Israel’s use of the F-35 was an absolute success for the U.S. for the following reasons:

1. Combat-Proven Validation — Israeli F-35s successfully struck deep into Iranian territory without losses, proving the jet’s stealth and precision in real-world combat.

2. Global Surge in Demand — The success triggered a wave of interest, with countries like Romania, Greece, and Germany accelerating purchases, boosting U.S. defense exports.

3. Massive Economic Benefit — Lockheed Martin gains billions in new deals, creating thousands of American jobs and expanding the U.S. defense industrial base.

4. R&D and System Improvements — Israeli combat experience helped identify and fix performance issues, saving the U.S. billions in research and development.

5. Strategic and Tactical Edge — Insights from Israeli operations now inform U.S. Air Force tactics, improving readiness and increasing pilot survivability.

In short, this wasn’t just a success for Israel. It was also a major win for Lockheed Martin and the U.S. economy.

The article includes the Pentagon assessment of the raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities:

Pentagon Assessment Operation Midnight Hammer : Planned Over 15 Years #Iran

Chairman Joint Chiefs GEN Dan Caine @thejointstaff

 Strike at Fordow exploited two ventilation shafts

Days before, Iran tried to cover shafts with concrete cap

First US weapon removed concrete cap

Weapons 2, 3, 4, and 5 entered main shaft, traveling at 1000 feet per second  to Iran’s underground mission center

Weapon 6 “flex” capability

The “kill” mechanism was the combination of blast and overpressure on the target

Officer from DTRA (Defense Threat Reduction Agency) began the mission 15 years ago when the underground target was identified and the officer recognized the US did not have a weapon to counter it. 

Years of highly classified (likely special access program) development and testing followed.

Caine said he talked with the two DTRA officers who “lived this single target” for years. 

Post mission, they described hearts “ filled with pride to be a part of this.”

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It’s been a good two weeks.

Freedom to Succeed or Fail 

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.

 This Independence Day represents the 240th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.   Historically, many countries founded on democratic principles did not survive this many years.  If we want our country to survive for the benefit of our children and grandchildren, we have to recognize and deal with the problems that are a threat to our country’s existence.  Abraham Lincoln once said that America would never be destroyed by external enemies but if we are destroyed it would be from within.  That statement is increasing self-evident today as we see what is happening in many areas of our country, particular the cities run by extreme leftists, and our schools and universities.

The Founding Fathers were adamant that for America to succeed and endure, the citizens must manifest the values and beliefs essential to a republican form of government.  They were referring to traditional Judeo-Christian values.   Liberty and freedom were the essential goals of the American Revolution.  Freedom, however, is a two-sided coin.  True freedom only exists when citizens not only have the ability to succeed by their own efforts and just rewards, but importantly are also allowed to fail if they do not put forth the effort to succeed.  America has long been viewed as the “Land of Opportunity,” not the land of government support and welfare.  Sadly, many Americans no longer believe that people should be responsible for the just outcomes of their efforts, frugality, and work ethic.

The basic Marxist principle “From each according to his ability, to each according to their need” is the direct opposite of freedom and is increasing being ascribed to by some of our citizens.   This has produced ideas such as participation trophies, reparations, guaranteed income for all, and student loan forgiveness.  Human nature is not inherently industrious, quite the opposite in many cases.   Who would not prefer to inherit a million dollars rather than being born into poverty and having to earn it?  Marxism appeals to our flawed human nature, whereas democratic freedom requires citizens to take responsibility for themselves and not depend on others.   Behavioral science is clear, if you want responsible hard-working citizens, clear examples of how to behave must be presented and a system of rewards for diligence and self-responsibility has to be in place.  This must also include the freedom to fail when the effort is not made.

What is the woke left teaching?   They tell children that they are inherently good and worthy of love and success, regardless of their behavior and effort.  They even tell them that they can be any gender that they prefer.  There are no limits to what they can do or deserve.  Also, many of our schools and universities teach that if a person is not successful, especially if they are a member of some minority, then it is because they are a victim of oppression and unfairness, not because of their lack of effort.  Victimization is the bedrock of Marxism and justifies hatred for the successful members of society, leading in many cases to revolution.  Ironically, they demand free stuff and in so doing destroy the very system that created the goods and services they want.

So as we celebrate Independence Day, let us recommit ourselves to model and teach the essential values of freedom and personal responsibility and reward only those who practice these values.  America is the greatest of countries because we have encouraged and rewarded people who are freedom loving, hand working and industrious.  This must be continued if America is to exist as we know it.   We must fight against the radical left that wants to destroy this country.   You can see it in many places.  It is time to renew our effort to save our country from the slide towards Marxism.

God Bless America!

How Healthcare Fraud Works

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On Friday, The Federalist posted an article illustrating how easy it is for a healthcare provider to commit healthcare fraud. The article tells the story of a woman who went for her annual visit to her allergist and what happened next.

The article reports that when she received her statement of the charges for the visit something wasn’t quite right:

Upon receiving this statement, I immediately questioned the line for “Laboratory Services” in the Explanation of Benefits. At the time, I assumed this line was for a breathing test that my regular provider said I did not need — and which she did not perform on the date of service. However, because this provider (who has since retired) had expressed some discomfort about her working arrangement in the larger allergy practice, I decided not to pursue the matter further at that point, to spare her additional stress.

In recent months, I learned that the practice’s owner had not just sold that practice, but that the entire practice — and he personally — had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The comments that staff at the succeeding practice made to me about the prior practice being mismanaged and “run into the ground” renewed my interest in pursuing the circumstances behind the Nov. 18, 2022, claim.

A few weeks ago, I spoke with staff at CareFirst about this claim. The staff informed me that, according to the diagnosis codes submitted as part of the claim, the “Laboratory Services” line was not for a breathing test but a Covid test.

As you might suspect, I did not receive a Covid test during this office visit.

The article notes:

Even though I did not meet my annual deductible for 2022, CareFirst still paid for the office visit with no out-of-pocket expense on my part, simply because the allergist’s office claimed they provided a Covid test during the visit. That dynamic provides a perfect recipe for fraud because scammers recognize that far fewer patients would dispute a potentially fraudulent claim if their office visit was provided to them for “free.”

…Trying to report this potential fraud has proven the most infuriating experience of all. As you can see from my Explanation of Benefits, CareFirst advertises a fraud reporting line on all claims. But when I tried to call, I discovered that this line only operates during working hours, despite the fact that the fraud reporting line is an automated system. Worse yet, CareFirst promises a response within one business day, but after several days, it has yet to return my voicemail.

The article concludes:

I work in health policy, yet I feel like I’ve spent the better part of the past week on a wild goose chase trying to figure out how and where to report this suspected incident of fraud. Most normal people who don’t do this for a living would have given up a long time ago.

Therein lies the moral of the story: We need to make it harder to cheat the system and easier to report those who do. Unless and until we do so, no one should sound surprised the next time they hear a story about yet another health fraud scam.

Someone was paid for the Covid test that never happened. Someone paid the co-pay on the office visit because of the Covid test that never happened. Please follow the link to read the entire story. Medical fraud is a serious problem.

Keeping Americans Safe

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Some of the people who are protesting the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) actions in removing people who are not here legally might want to take another look at what they are doing to keep Americans safe.

On Tuesday, Homeland Security released the following information:

ICE Arrests 11 Iranian Nationals Illegally in the U.S. Over the Weekend

The article lists information about some of the people arrested:

On June 22, ICE Atlanta arrested Ribvar Karimi in Locust, Alabama. Karimi reportedly served as an Iranian Army sniper from 2018 to 2021 and at the time of his arrest, in his possession, he had an Islamic Republic of Iran Army identification card. He entered the U.S. on a K-1 visa, which is reserved for aliens engaged to be married to American citizens, in October 2024 under the Biden administration. Karimi never adjusted his status — a legal requirement — and is removable from the United States. He’s currently in ICE custody, where he’ll remain pending removal proceedings.

On June 22, ICE Houston officials arrested Behzad Sepehrian Bahary Nejad, an alien with a final order of removal, who was carrying a loaded 9mm pistol at the time of his arrest. Sepehrian entered the U.S. in Houston on Dec. 9, 2016, on an F-1 student visa. On Aug. 19, 2017, Harris County police arrested him for assaulting a family member by impeding breathing; his wife told the local assistant district attorney that Sepehrian was threatening her and obtained a restraining order against him. She also alleged he was threatening her family in Iran. On July 23, 2018, the University of Texas terminated Sepehrian’s status after he was placed on academic suspension. An immigration judge ordered him removed on Oct. 10, 2019, after he was released on an immigration bond; he filed a motion to reopen his case, which a Department of Justice immigration judge denied. Sepehrian is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.  

Also in Houston, ICE arrested Hamid Reza Bayat, an Iranian national an immigration judge ordered removed nearly 20 years ago, on Aug. 4, 2005. Twice convicted of drug crimes and once convicted of driving on a suspended license, Bayat served time before receiving his final order of removal. He’s now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Please follow the link above to read the rest of the article and see the other wonderful people who will be deported. These are the people the Democrat party is fighting to keep in America.

New York City’s Future Depends On The Mayoral Election

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On Saturday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about the recent Democrat primary election in New York City. New York City at various times has been a wonderful city to visit. I went to school there back in the age of dinosaurs, and I really enjoyed the art, the museums, the concerts, and the great places to eat. It was a wonderful place in the 1960’s and the late 1990’s. Right now the city is headed in a really scary direction.

New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani has won the Democrat primary in the Mayor’s race. He is a socialist calling for a global intifada.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines intifada as follows:

A protracted grassroots campaign of protest and sometimes violent resistance against perceived oppression or military occupation, especially either of two uprisings among Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the first beginning in 1987 and the second in 2000, in protest against Israeli occupation of these territories.

Is that really what New Yorkers want?

The election was held using ranked-choice voting, which may be part of the problem.

The article notes that former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has decided to stay in the race. Eric Adams has also decided to stay in the race. Obviously, both of these men staying in the race will split the opposition against Zohran Mamdani. Curtis Sliwa is running for Mayor on the Republican ticket, but New York City has not had a Republican Mayor since Rudy Giuliani was elected in 1994.

The article at Legal Insurrection concludes:

While it’s hard to predict with any degree of certainty how this ultimately will play out, the first post-mayoral primary poll is out and shows Cuomo and Mamdani both with equal levels of support, and Adams trailing badly:

As speculation swirls over whether former [governor] Cuomo will continue his campaign as an independent after conceding the Democratic primary to Mamdani, a new poll shows the two candidates in a statistical tie heading into November’s general election.

The polling, conducted independently by the Honan Strategy Group 48 hours after Mamdani’s stunning victory, showed both Mamdani and Cuomo garnering 39% support among likely general election voters in a five-way race between them, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, independent candidate Jim Walden and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who trailed at 13%.

…In the scenario that Cuomo does not appear on the ballot, pollsters found that Mamdani would lead Adams by 15 points.

But if Adams were to drop out, Cuomo appears to pick up the support of likely Adams voters and gains a slight edge, leading Mamdani by 4 points — just outside the poll’s margin of error of ±3.4%.

Adams officially kicked off his general election campaign Thursday.

Meanwhile–posted on Facebook by a friend:

Slowing Down The Lawfare

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One of the political left’s preferred methods of blocking President Trump and his agenda is lawfare. The deep state raided his house, arrested him, posted a mugshot, and generally tried to use questionable legal tactics to stop him from becoming President. When that didn’t work, they enlisted the aid of some liberal district court judges to counter his agenda. Well, that may be coming to an end.

On Friday, Townhall reported:

In a 6-3 decision Friday, the Supreme Court ruled President Donald Trump’s efforts to end “birthright” citizenship are constitutional, overruling rogue judges issuing national injunctions. As explained by our friends at RedState, “the court has issued an opinion in CASA v. Trump, which is actually three consolidated cases involving challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive order regarding birthright citizenship.” 

“Universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has given to federal courts. The Court grants the Government’s applications for a partial stay of the injunctions entered below, but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue,” the decision states, authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

“When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too,” she continued. “The Court today puts an end to the ‘increasingly common’ practice of federal courts issuing universal injunctions.”

President Trump is the duly elected President of the United States–district court judges cannot supersede his authority.

Let the MAGA agenda proceed!

Why They Got It Wrong

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On Friday, Fred Fleitz posted an article at American Greatness about the intelligence failures regarding the Iranian nuclear program.

The article includes a brief biography of Fred Fleitz:

Fred Fleitz previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member. He was a member of the CIA Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control Center and served as a U.S. delegate to the IAEA Board of Governors.

Obviously he knows what he is talking about.

The article reports:

The recent Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment claiming that the U.S. bombing of Iran set the country’s nuclear weapons program back only a few months was irresponsible and probably intended to undermine President Trump’s foreign policy. This assessment was written to be leaked to the press and reflected a long pattern of politicized intelligence analysis to undermine Republican presidents.

The DIA assessment was not credible because a battle damage assessment of the bombing of Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites will be complicated and probably take weeks or months of intelligence collection and analysis by dozens of experts and other intelligence agencies. A low-confidence assessment, like the DIA analysis issued 24 hours after the bombings, was a fraud and an abuse of intelligence to produce a high-profile assessment that deliberately misrepresented the outcome of the U.S. attack and helped the president’s political adversaries use the bombings to hurt him politically. Not surprisingly, this assessment was quickly leaked to the press.

The DIA assessment followed similar efforts by U.S. intelligence agencies and the left to deny that Iran had a nuclear weapons program.

The article notes one of the reasons for previous misreporting:

Prior to 2007, the U.S. Intelligence Community had assessed that Iran had a nuclear weapons program. But in November 2007, fearing that President Bush might order an attack on Iran’s nuclear program, a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was published by the National Intelligence Council that found Iran’s nuclear program was halted in 2003 and Iranian leaders had not made a decision to resume weaponization efforts and construct a nuclear weapon.

Our government agencies need to remember that the President is an elected official and that they are not!

The article concludes:

The DIA assessment is a wake-up call about the serious problem of politicized U.S. intelligence analysis. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has begun to address this problem by reassigning National Intelligence Council senior analysts for politicizing national intelligence estimates. Much more must be done to depoliticize American intelligence analysis and win back the confidence of President Trump.

Let’s go back to where patriotism was more important than political parties.

A More Accurate Assessment

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On Thursday, Townhall posted an article about the damage done by America’s strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. There have been varying reports of the extent of the damage. This report comes from the UN Atomic Energy Watchdog Chief.

The article reports:

We’ve been subjected to fake news about the intelligence report showing that President Trump’s air strikes on Iran were ineffectual in crippling its nuclear capabilities. It’s what liberals clung to like grim death in the wake of Operation Midnight Hammer, a precision strike from our B-2 Bomber fleet that pounded the terror state. Key nuclear facilities were struck, but the media would have us believe nothing happened. Please. No one knew this operation was going to happen. There were no leaks, but somehow, we need to all believe this low-confidence, top-secret report that was leaked to the press.

CNN pimped this fake news story. After getting raked over the coals by the Trump administration, they’re circling the wagons around the fake news reporter who peddled this garbage. This liberal narrative hit another snag: UN’s nuclear watchdog chief said the air strikes severely derailed Iran’s nuclear infrastructure (via Washington Free Beacon):

The U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities set back the Islamic Republic’s program “significantly,” the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog organization said Tuesday.

“I think the Iranian nuclear program has been set back significantly, significantly,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Grossi said in a Fox News interview. He noted that “it is clear that there is one Iran—before June 13, nuclear Iran—and one now,” describing the difference as “night and day.”

Just before the Tuesday afternoon interview, the IAEA revealed that it detected “extensive damage at several nuclear sites in Iran, including its uranium conversion and enrichment facilities.” That damage caused a radioactive release, according to the organization.

I don’t think you can drop that much explosive material anywhere without doing significant damage. I don’t know whether the CNN was simply misled or just didn’t want to give President Trump a victory. It is sad that our mainstream media has gotten so far off the mark.

Changing The Dynamic On Vaccines

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is known to be somewhat skeptical on vaccines–very skeptical on the Covid-19 vaccine. In the end, that may be a good thing for America’s children.

On Thursday, Hot Air posted an article about one possible impact of Kennedy’s tenure as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The article reports:

I have an unusual perspective on RFK Jr. I think that his skeptical approach to the current vaccination schedule will turn out to be a good thing, not because he will enhance skepticism about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, but because it will do the opposite–for safe and effective vaccines.

The current establishment chant is that any and all vaccines are an unalloyed good for everyone, always. To put it mildly, that simply cannot be true. It is a mantra, not a scientific conclusion, and the reason why the mantra is repeated so persistently is that public health officials are so scared that people will mistrust vaccines that they feel the need to force a unified message and brainwash people.

That was made obvious during COVID. You can even go read the transcripts of meetings within the CDC and FDA discussing the pros and cons of the mRNA vaccines, and the officials kept talking about ensuring that all messaging was simplified and unified. No nuance, no discussion, no informed consent. The belief was that keeping people UNinformed was crucial.

That’s why the FDA’s top two vaccine officials eventually bolted–right in the middle of the pandemic. The propaganda being put out was so deceptive that they couldn’t stand behind it.

The article notes:

Between birth and six years old, children are supposed to receive at least 30 different vaccinations, excluding the multiple mRNA COVID-19 shots. What is the likelihood that there are no downsides, side effects, interactions, immune system effects, or other unintended consequences? It’s an interesting question, and one that isn’t really studied in a systematic way. Many of these vaccines are barely tested before being rolled out.

My suspicion is that the safety and effectiveness vary quite a bit among the various vaccines out there, and I am absolutely certain that the vaccine schedule is unlikely to be suboptimal at the very least.

The article explains the upside of Kennedy’s skepticism:

Everybody who is worried that RFK, Jr. is undermining faith in vaccines seems to have missed the fact that people have lost trust in public health officials for very good reasons. We demand that it is the skeptics, not the pro-vaccine fanatics, who examine the evidence and tell us the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Do I assume RFK, Jr. is right about his opinions about vaccines? No. But it’s not like he has ripped all the vaccines off the market–he’s hired good scientists to delve into the evidence and report to all of us what they find. Inform us. I suspect that the answers will differ from vaccine to vaccine, and that each vaccine has different risk and benefit profiles.

I am looking forward to those answers.

Changing The Funding Of Abortions

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On Thursday, The National Review posted an article about a Supreme Court decision that will impact the funding of abortion.

The article reports:

The Supreme Court is allowing South Carolina to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, a win for pro-lifers that will likely clear the way for red states across the country to stop taxpayer dollars from funding abortion.

The justices ruled 6-3 along ideological lines Thursday to permit South Carolina to cut off Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion for the Court, siding with the state against a private challenge brought by the abortion provider and a patient.

The plaintiffs in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic argued that Medicaid patients should be free to sue in order to choose their own health-care providers, while the state claimed they lacked the right to sue.

…South Carolina stopped allowing Planned Parenthood to participate in its Medicaid program in 2018 because of state law barring the public funding of abortion. The move was immediately blocked in court in response to a challenge brought by Julie Edwards, a South Carolina woman who claimed she preferred Planned Parenthood for gynecological care and needed Medicaid coverage.

The article concludes:

Planned Parenthood has claimed that cutting off taxpayer funds would lead to the closure of up to a third of its brick-and-mortar clinics, potentially making it more difficult for low income women to receive healthcare.

But for every Planned Parenthood clinic in the U.S., there are 15 federally funded clinics offering women’s healthcare, according to a report from the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute. If Medicaid does not reimburse Planned Parenthood clinics anymore, patients can go elsewhere to receive reimbursements for treatment.

Abortion is not healthcare–it is the killing of an unborn baby. Americans who do not believe in killing babies should not be forced to subsidize it with their tax dollars.

The Problem With Ranked-Choice Voting

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Ranked-choice voting in the New York City mayoral primary gave a victory to Zohran Mamdani, a member of the New York State Assembly from the 36th district, based in Queens, since 2021. He is a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America. (see previous article referencing the Democratic Socialists of America.) 

Here are a few of Zohran Mamdani’s ideas according to his campaign website:

1. As Mayor, Zohran will immediately freeze the rent for all stabilized tenants, and use every available resource to build the housing New Yorkers need and bring down the rent. The number one reason working families are leaving our city is the housing crisis. The Mayor has the power to change that.

2. Zohran won New York’s first fare-free bus pilot on five lines across the city. As Mayor, he’ll permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus – and make them faster by rapidly building priority lanes, expanding bus queue jump signals, and dedicated loading zones to keep double parkers out of the way. Fast and free buses will not only make buses reliable and accessible but will improve safety for riders and operators – creating the world-class service New Yorkers deserve.

3. Zohran will create the Department of Community Safety to prevent violence before it happens by prioritizing solutions which have been consistently shown to improve safety…Police have a critical role to play. But right now, we’re relying on them to deal with the failures of our social safety net—which prevents them from doing their actual jobs. Through this new city agency and whole-of-government approach, community safety will be prioritized like never before in NYC.

4. Zohran will implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years, ensuring high quality programming for all families. And he will bring up wages for childcare workers – a quarter of whom currently live in poverty – to be at parity with public school teachers.

He may provide living proof of the Margaret Thatcher quote, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” The only question is going to be how long that will take in New York City. The city avoided bankruptcy in 1975 (article here).

Just to add some perspective, the following headline was posted at The New York Post on Wednesday:

Luxury real estate brokers say wealthy New Yorkers are already looking to flee after Zohran Mamdani’s primary win

The Republican candidate for Mayor is Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels. However, generally speaking, Republicans do not win mayoral races in New York City. Eric Adams is running as an independent candidate.

When Lawmakers Listen

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Earlier I posted an article about my trip to Raleigh to support the shrimp fishermen. There were a lot of people there. There was no vote taken yesterday, so many people showed up again on Wednesday. The vote on Wednesday killed the bill (at least for this legislative session).

On Wednesday, WRAL reported:

The North Carolina Senate passed a bill to ban shrimp trawling in inland waters, but after fierce opposition from the shrimp industry and some lawmakers, it won’t advance in the House.

A Senate-passed bill to ban shrimp trawling in North Carolina’s inland waters won’t advance in the House this session, lawmakers confirmed to WRAL on Tuesday afternoon.

About 100 shrimpers and others opposed to the ban cheered in the state legislative building as House Republicans emerged from a caucus meeting and announced that they wouldn’t push forward with the bill.

…Hundreds of protesters showed up Tuesday to express their anger over the proposed ban. Dozens stuck around Wednesday. Hanig estimated that there were 800 people Tuesday and another 300 on Wednesday.

“We’ve heard their voices,” Kidwell said.

Legislators are supposed to hear the voices of their constituents!

The article notes:

A study that state lawmakers commissioned in 2022 to conduct an analysis of the status of the state’s fisheries and develop policy recommendations will be submitted to the body Monday, said Jeff Warren, the executive director of the NC Collaboratory.

The June 30 date is in the law.

The report doesn’t take a regulatory stance on shrimp trawling, Warren said. It does considers 13 species, including their health and the extent of the habitat they require. The species: bay scallop, blue crab, eastern oyster, estuarine striped bass, hard clam, kingfishes, red drum, river herring, sheepshead, shrimp, southern flounder, spotted seatrout and striped mullet.

It is an interesting that some legislators were anxious to get this ban put into effect before they had the information contained in their study.

When Politics Becomes More Important Than Patriotism

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On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article with a headline that asked a very interesting question:

Why Haven’t Any Living Former Presidents Publicly Supported Trump for Enforcing Their Unanimous Red Line?

All of our living former Presidents (and a number of legislators) have stated at one time or another that Iran should never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. Some of our former Presidents said this despite giving Iran large sums of money that were probably spent on developing a nuclear weapon.

The article reports:

This is a fair question from Matt Continetti, who recites some of the relevant quotations before posing it. I’ll add to the list. President Bill Clinton described a nuclearlzed Iran as intolerable and signed the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000, “which authorize[d] him to take punitive action against individuals or organizations known to be providing material aid to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs in Iran.”  President George W. Bush intoned in 2008 that “permitting the world’s leading sponsor of terror to possess the world’s deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations.”  He added, “for the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”  The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg cooed about President Barack Obama’s “crystal clear promise to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.” Obama himself said in 2012 that “when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say.” For added emphasis, he said, “I don’t bluff.”  President Joe Biden declared that the Iranian regime would “never get a nuclear weapon on my watch” in 2021.

Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) has become more important in some peoples’ minds than the safety of America. It is interesting that after President Trump was the only President to act on the promise that Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon, there was no acknowledgement of the accomplishment by those who failed to do it.

Reining In The Federal Reserve

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.

 President Trump is engaged in an ongoing struggle with Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve (Fed) over interest rates. Interest rate levels are set by the Fed and have a substantial impact on the growth of the economy and the national debt. President Trump believes that economic growth is essential for the security of the country but also essential to making America Great Again.  It is important to note that Jerome Powell was not elected by the people whereas President Trump was. Consequently, this issue is directly relevant to whether power belongs to the people as intended by the Founding Fathers or to appointed bureaucrats.

 Historically, the Federal Reserve (essentially the national bank), did not exist until it was created in 1913 as a result of a secret meeting of bankers who drafted the legislation in Jekyll Island, Georgia. The bill creating the Fed was signed into law by Democrat president Woodrow Wilson, who was a leftist. President Andrew Jackson was instrumental in doing away with the previous national bank during his administration in the 1830s, primarily because he believed the national bank had too much power and that Congress should decide important economic policies. The goal of the legislation creating the Fed in 1913, was to create a more “elastic” currency and control the banking industry by creating 12 member banks making up the Federal Reserve system. They would set interest rates on federal bonds as well as the money supply. Remember, this was a time when there was a heated debate over whether to do away with gold as the basis for our money supply. The paper dollar switched from representing a certain amount of gold or silver (which you could redeem), to faith in the promise of the federal government: the so-called promissory note. If you look at the top line on a dollar bill, it now says “Federal Reserve Note.” I remember in my youth that it used to say “Silver Certificate.” Also, remember that in the 1930s, Democrat president Franklin Roosevelt, required all citizens to turn in their gold coins to the government to be replaced by paper money. What all this tells us is that the Federal Reserve has essentially total control over the monetary system of the country.

One of the main functions of the Fed is to use interest rates to control economic growth as well as inflation. Lower rates encourage businesses to borrow so they can expand, resulting in more hiring. Consumers also buy more since mortgage rates and credit card rates go down. Raising interest rates by the Fed is usually done to decrease inflation since it slows economic growth and spending. Since President Trump has been in office, the inflation rate has dropped substantially, surprising most economic experts. President Trump wants the Fed to lower rates so more people can afford to buy homes and other consumer items, which would result in economic growth. He also knows that lowering interest rates will reduce the amount of payment necessary to service the 37 trillion-dollar national debt, which is approaching one trillion dollars a year.

 The Fed has recently announced that they do not intend to lower interest rates in the near future, which is in direct opposition to the president’s request. Since the people selected President Trump to run the country for the next four years, doesn’t it make sense that he should be able to dictate the interest rates consistent with his agenda?

 If so, Congress needs to rein in the independence of the Federal Reserve so that they act in an advisory rather than decision making authority. If not, what would prevent the Fed from using their existing authority to undermine a president with whom they have political differences? A president should be free to exercise his authority to enact the policies and actions that the people who elected him have reason to expect,

The North Carolina Shrimp Fishermen And Their Friends Speak Up

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On Tuesday, my husband and I and some friends attended a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, to support our local shrimp fishermen. The purpose of the rally was to ask the legislature not to pass House Resolution 442. We visited a number of legislators and asked them to kill the bill. I am not in any way directly involved with the fishing industry, but while living in Massachusetts, I watched government regulations drive generations of Portuguese fishermen out of business along the southern coast of Massachusetts. I don’t want to see that  happen to the shrimp fishermen in North Carolina.

On Tuesday, Yahoo News reported:

North Carolina fishermen abandoned their boats on Tuesday to walk the halls of the General Assembly and voice strong opposition to legislation that would ban inland shrimp trawling. House Bill 442, passed by the Senate last week, would prohibit trawlers from using their nets for shrimping in all inshore waters and within a half mile of the coast.

The original bill passed by the House in May dealt with strengthening the state’s flounder and red snapper stocks by regulating the harvest season and the number of fish that could be taken. The measure, however, was rewritten to address the shrimp trawling issue and quickly approved by the Senate last week.

The article includes some of the comments made by the legislators:

Rep. Phil Shepard (R-Onslow) said the legislation was not just bad for commercial fishermen, but consumers who prize fresh seafood.

“I was born Down East, and I know the difference in a local shrimp and one that comes from Thailand or China.”

Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) — one of the legislature’s leading voices for environmental protection — also joined the chorus of voices opposing the trawling ban.

Senator Bobby Hanig, who represents ten coastal counties, has been fighting the ban in the upper chamber. Hanig called the Senate maneuver to pass the revised version of HB 442 “sleazy politics at its worst.”

Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort) said the bill would “flip the switch” on the economy in eastern North Carolina, harming not just the commercial fishermen, but all the supporting businesses.

“Are we going to shut down the people who live every day making an honest living because some branch of the government finally decides some slimy backroom deals that they don’t want to do this anymore?”

Kidwell said the bill would not advance in the state House on his watch.

“We’re going to spike this bill. And we’re going to drive a stake through its heart so it’s dead — because as you’ve noticed many times in this building, bills are like Freddy Krueger. Once you think they’re dead, they come back to life. This one’s going to die. It will be a swift, painful death.”

Kidwell also predicted House Bill 441 that would offer temporary “transition payments” to commercial fishermen impacted by the proposed trawling ban, would also fail as primary sponsors of the original bill have asked that their names be removed from the legislation.

The article concludes:

The commercial shrimping industry in North Carolina is valued at more than $14 million per year.

A Major Ecological Disaster off Alaska’s Aleutian Island Chain

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On June 6th, I posted an article about the Morning Midas, a ship carrying electric vehicles that was burning in waters off Alaska’s Aleutian island chain. On Tuesday, The Liberty Daily reported the latest on the fire.

The article reports:

A vehicle carrier transporting hundreds of Chinese electric vehicles (EV) sank in the Pacific Ocean after catching fire, fueling renewed concerns about the hazard associated with EV batteries, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The Morning Midas was carrying approximately 3,000 cars, including around 800 EVs, most of which were manufactured in China, according to the WSJ. While the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, lithium-ion batteries used in many EVs are known to be highly flammable, and have been linked to similar maritime incidents in the past.

The ship had been drifting in the ocean after a fire broke out on June 3, prompting the crew to abandon the vessel. At the time of the incident, the vessel was en route to Mexico.

Several similar incidents involving ships carrying EVs have occurred in recent years. Experts linked a 2022 incident, in which a cargo ship transporting thousands of cars went down in the Atlantic Ocean after catching fire, to a large number of lithium-ion batteries on board, the WSJ noted.

Additionally, the insurance company Allianz recently issued a report warning about the risks of shipping vehicles containing lithium-ion batteries, citing a series of recent fires on vessels, ports and battery facilities. A notable case in 2024 involved a fire and explosion on a container ship docked at a Chinese port, which is thought to have been triggered by a container carrying hazardous materials, including lithium batteries.

According to the Thompson safety website:

As fire fighters have discovered in recent years, lithium-ion battery fires are prone to reigniting. That’s because the lithium salts in the battery are self-oxidizing, which means that they can’t be “starved out” like a traditional fire. So how do you put it out?

Because the lithium has an ignition point of 500°C, the battery has to be cooled to a sub-ignition temperature. That’s why it took the fire fighters in Texas 30,000 gallons of water and 4 hours to extinguish the blaze.

Why This Is Relevant To You

As the popularity of electric vehicles and machinery continues to increase, so will the number of fires and other accidents that involve them. For instance, most forklift manufacturers have moved away from traditional lead-acid batteries in favor of more powerful and efficient lithium-ion alternatives. Laptops, tablets, phones, and pretty much all other portable electronics use them as well.

While the chances of a lithium-ion battery catching fire are minimal, it’s important that you’re aware of the possibility and have a plan of action prepared if it ever happens.

I think we need to do more research before we put an electric vehicle in every garage.

Admitting The Obvious

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I have stated my views of the Federal Reserve numerous times. It needs to go. For an explanation of why I believe this, please watch this video. It is long, but worth the watch.

If I had any doubts about the politicization of the Federal Reserve, those doubts were confirmed by an article posted at Breitbart on Tuesday.

The article reports:

The Fed chair (Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell) once warned against using speculative forecasts to drive policy. Now he’s doing exactly that.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made a quiet but extraordinary admission on Tuesday: if the Fed were following the actual data, it would be cutting interest rates. But it isn’t—because the Fed expects President Trump’s tariffs to raise inflation, and it’s choosing to act on that forecast instead.

“If you just look at the basic data and don’t look at the forecast, you would say that we would’ve continued cutting,” Powell told lawmakers. “The difference, of course, is at this time all forecasters are expecting pretty soon that some significant inflation will show up from tariffs. And we can’t just ignore that.”

That’s a remarkable departure from the Fed’s longstanding mantra of data-dependence. It also reveals the extent to which the central bank is allowing anti-tariff bias—and speculative inflation models—to override clear economic signals pointing toward looser policy.

The data are, in Powell’s own words, favorable to a resumption of rate cuts. Inflation has come down meaningfully. We don’t yet have the personal consumption expenditure index reading for May, but Harvard economist Jason Furman’s calculation based on CPI is that the three-month annualized rate is around 0.6 percent for headline inflation and 1.4 percent for annualized inflation. The year-over-year figure is two percent for headline, exactly at the Fed’s target, and 2.5 percent for core inflation.

The article reminds us of some of Powell’s recent mistakes:

In some ways, Powell’s decision to ignore current data in favor of tariff-driven inflation forecasts echoes a costly Fed error from the recent past. In 2021, the Fed insisted that inflation was “transitory,” even as prices surged month after month. Officials were guided not by what the data showed, but by what their models predicted—that supply chain pressures would ease and inflation would naturally subside. It didn’t. And the Fed was forced to scramble, hiking rates aggressively in 2022 and 2023 to restore credibility.

Reducing interest rates at this point would help significantly in the recovery of America’s economy. After four years of inflation, lower wages, and slow employment growth, Americans are ready for the Federal Reserve to be a help rather than a hindrance.

How Much Did The Open Border Really Cost?

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On Monday, The Federalist posted an article about the cost of having an open border for the four years of the Biden administration.

The article reports:

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the surge in illegal migration cost governments billions of dollars in 2023, which illustrates the real-world impact of the previous administration’s actions — or inactions. The report also exhorted Congress to provide adequate resources for border security, so that the chaos of the past four years can never happen again.

…CBO believes that, of those 4.3 million, “about a quarter,” or roughly 1.1 million, “were qualified aliens upon arrival.” That term has particular relevance because the 1996 welfare reform law restricted eligibility for federal programs to “qualified aliens” who have served a five-year waiting period. However, CBO also notes that “about half,” or over 500,000, “of those qualified aliens” arriving during the surge “were exempt from the five-year waiting period,” and therefore could immediately receive taxpayer-funded benefits.

…On net, CBO estimated the direct costs to state and local governments from the immigration surge at $9.2 billion in 2023 alone. Including indirect costs raised the total even further, to $9.8 billion in 2023.

America can have either an open border or a welfare state. It can’t have both.

Setting The Captives Free

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I just finished reading the book A Time To Betray by Reza Kahlili (obviously not his real name). It is the story of a man who believed that the Iranian Revolution on 1979 would bring freedom to his country. He realized he was wrong rather quickly. One of the things that added to his disillusionment was the fact that the new government was putting innocent people in prison and torturing them. One of this friends and his friend’s brother and sister were put in Evin Prison, tortured, sexually abused, and eventually killed. Reza Kahlili eventually went to work for the American CIA. His book tells his story.

On Monday, The New York Post reported:

Israel hit key Iranian targets in a fresh series of devastating airstrikes Monday, attacking the headquarters of the country’s elite military police force and blowing off the front of its most notorious, brutal prison.

The most intense bombing yet of government sites around Tehran came a day after the US joined Israel’s war on thwarting the Islamic Republic from being able to build nuclear bombs.

“The Iranian dictator will be punished with full force for attacking the Israeli home front,” Israel’s Defense Ministry said of the latest attacks.

…Shocking security footage shows one missile strike blasting open the doors of Evin Prison, where the Islamic Republic held its opponents and critics in brutal conditions, with public hangings.

The article concludes:

“The IDF is currently striking with unprecedented force regime targets and governmental repression bodies in the heart of Tehran, including the Basij headquarters, the Evin Prison for political prisoners and regime opponents, the ‘Destruction of Israel’ clock in Palestine Square, the internal security headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideology headquarters, and other regime targets,” Katz said in a statement.

Further strikes in Iran hit the access roads to the Fordow nuclear facility, one of three sites in Iran hit during US air strikes over the weekend.

The strikes were intended to “disrupt” accessibility to the underground nuclear enrichment center, the IDF claimed.

We may be about to see regime change in Iran.

If The Strait Of Hormuz Is Closed, Who Loses?

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On Monday, CNBC posted an article about Iran’s Parliament voting to block the Strait of Hormuz. Twenty percent of the world’s oil is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.

The article reports:

  • Should Iran follow through on its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, it could alienate its neighbors and trade partners.
  • But the possibility of a closure of the strait is low, experts said, despite Tehran’s rhetoric around closing the strait.
  • A closure would provoke Iran’s markets in Asia, particularly China, which accounts for a majority of Iranian oil exports.

The article continues:

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed that Iran had shipped 1.5 million barrels per day via the Strait of Hormuz in the first quarter of 2025.

Furthermore, a closure would also provoke Iran’s market in Asia, particularly China, which accounts for a majority of Iranian oil exports.

“So very, very little to be achieved, and a lot of self inflicted harm that Iran could do” Hari said.

Her view is supported by Andrew Bishop, senior partner and global head of policy research at advisory firm Signum Global Advisors.

Iran will not want to antagonize China, he said, adding that disrupting supplies will also “put a target” on the country’s own oil production, export infrastructure, and regime “at a time when there is little reason to doubt U.S. and Israeli resolve in being ‘trigger-happy.’”

Clayton Seigle, senior fellow for Energy Security and Climate Change at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said that as China is “very dependent” on oil flows from the Gulf, not just Iran, “its national security interest really would value stabilization of the situation and a de-escalation enabling safe flows of oil and gas through the strait.”

Iran does not need to alienate anyone right now. I am sure many of the Middle Eastern countries are breathing a sigh of relief knowing that Iran at the moment does not have nuclear capability.

Riots Are Expensive

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On Sunday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about the cost of the Los Angeles riots.

The article reports:

New data from the City of Los Angeles’ Controller shows that anti-ICE riots across the city had cost taxpayers over $32 million between June 1 and June 17. 

LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia tried to spin numbers on X, attributing the massive cost to the city to “ICE raids.”

“$29.5 million or 92% relates to LAPD’s response to protests against ICE, including citywide tactical alert costs,” he said, failing to mention the violence by so-called protesters that spurred police responses.

Police have arrested at least 561 people since the riots started earlier this month.

He also mentioned the “$1.4 million relates to clean-up / public property damage,” but somehow, it’s ICE’s fault that leftist rioters and illegal aliens caused over one million dollars in damage.

The total, roughly $32 million, “does not include potential lawsuits,” Mejia said.

The article concludes:

It can be recalled that Governor Gavin Newsom sued President Trump for exercising his authority as President to federalize the National Guard and prevent the riots from becoming even more violent and costing more money. Trump had sent in 4,000 National Guard Troops to help quell the riots.

After winning a leftist federal judge in San Francisco ordered President Trump to return control of the National Guard to California, the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court unanimously sided with Trump, allowing him to keep the California National Guard deployed.

However, leftist radicals and illegal aliens are still out in the streets attacking law enforcement and destroying public property.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, two Border Patrol vehicles were rammed, their tires slashed, and windows smashed on Friday in Bell and Maywood, California, as violent mobs broke out in the area.

If I entered America illegally in search of a better life, why would I riot in the streets and risk getting put in jail or deported? This is not what it appears to be.