Monthly Archives: July 2025

Fake News Isn’t Only About What You Say–It’s Often About What You Don’t Say

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The majority of the American media is owned by a few large corporations. None of them are conservative. Thus, if you watch the mainstream media, you are not getting the whole story. If you are looking for media that is actually reliable, I strongly recommend NewsMax and One America News. The lack of coverage of the newly declassified documents released by  Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is one example of the news media controlling the narrative to avoid telling the truth.

On Tuesday, The American Thinker reported:

Most fake news isn’t incorrect facts or flat-out lies; that’s way too obvious and easy to prove wrong.  Instead, most fake news is done by omission — telling part of the story so the reader comes to a different conclusion or completely omitting the story so the reader has no idea that it ever happened.  A great example of fake news by omission was during the 2020 election cycle, when most “mainstream” media refused to report on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Recall October 2020: The N.Y. Post published the explosive story about the contents of Hunter’s laptop.  The laptop contained thousands of emails, documents, photos, etc. that proved that Joe Biden (and Biden Inc.) is completely corrupt.  The laptop had been in the FBI’s possession for almost a year.  They had verified its authenticity and had certainly informed their leftist and Democrat media sources of the laptop’s veracity.

The hardcore leftist media completely ignored the laptop story.  They engaged in fake news by omission.  It was almost impossible to find the Post’s story anywhere.  And when they were called on it, they used all kinds of excuses that centered on “the story couldn’t be verified” and “fifty-one former intel officials claim it was Russian disinformation.

…Last Friday (July 18), previously classified documents were released that prove that the Trump-Russia-collusion story was concocted and initiated by then-president Obama and executed by U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI.  Tulsi Gabbard, former Democrat presidential candidate and now Trump’s director of National Intelligence (DNI), released over 100 documents that prove that on Dec. 7, 2016, the Intel Community told Obama that Russia had not interfered in the 2016 election.  Two days later, Obama then “tasked” the intel agencies to look “into Russia election meddling,” meaning the intel agencies should fabricate intel reports to appear as though Russia had interfered in favor of Trump.

The article concludes:

The blockbuster story broke almost exclusively on conservative media because the leftist, liberal, Democrat media newscasts and websites almost completely ignored the story in the same manner that they ignored Hunter’s laptop.  CNN did cover it but at the very bottom of the webpage and only after such stories as the Texas floods, Superman goes “woke,” Americans at risk of extreme heat, Colbert’s Late Show canceled, Sergio García snapped golf club in frustration, man plows car into crowd, David Beckham’s haircut mishap, and CEO resigns after viral Coldplay concert video.

Ignoring this story is the ultimate fake news by omission.  However, it really doesn’t matter as long as the DOJ follows through and investigates what all American Thinker readers have known for years.

Final thought: In a just world, those guilty of perpetrating the Russia hoax would spend years in prison.  However, the world is not fair.  I doubt if any Dem will ever be prosecuted for these treasonous crimes, further proving we have a two-tier standard of justice.

Let’s hope there are enough people who care about America to hold the people who dreamed up this hoax responsible.

Exactly What Do The Declassified Documents Show?

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Conservative media is overflowing with stories about the document dump about the Russia Hoax. The mainstream media, not so much. There are some things that are revealed in the documents declassified that might be troubling to some of the people who were in power in 2016 and early 2017.

On Monday, The Federalist reported:

Internal emails released on Friday by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reveal that after former President Barack Obama ordered an intelligence assessment of Russia’s election influence, a top official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence scuttled the release of an already-completed intelligence report that concluded Russian had not hacked the 2016 presidential election.

On Friday, Director Gabbard released newly declassified documents, including scores of emails related to a 7-page draft President’s Daily Brief or PDB. That draft PDB, dated December 8, 2016, concluded, “Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure.” But hours before the planned publication of the PDB, the ODNI’s deputy director pulled the report, purportedly due to “some new guidance.”

However, the email threads declassified last week indicate the ODNI instead buried the PDB to provide the intelligence community cover to issue a contrary assessment concerning Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election — and did so, against the recommendations of a wide array of intelligence professionals.

Specifically, on Thursday, December 8, 2016, the “Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Issues” for ODNI responded to an earlier email from the Deputy Director of ODNI concerning the publication of the PDB. “The room’s thoughts (EEMC, NIO Russia, CTIIC, NSA, FBI, CCI) were that it was worth going ahead with the pdb if possible now to provide our current understanding of what happened during the election, and that worst case the ICA has some language and an associated briefer note explaining any changes between the products.”

I am not sure exactly how much of this activity is illegal or if anyone will ever be held accountable for their lies. However, the value of getting it out there is vindication for those of us who have watched the lies the media has told be accepted as fact. I don’t expect apologies from my friends and family who hate President Trump, but it feels good to know that my research in the alternative media has been more accurate than the reporting by the mainstream media.

The View From The Lair

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HELLOOO KARMA!

Last May I perused that karma sucks. And it does. And it seems to be sucking on a most deserving victim.

While PDJT was forced into his 4-year sabbatical (in fact, while he was still President,), numerous Marxist miscreants – including the Deep State holdovers from Barry Obozo’s DOJ as well as Resident Brandon’s DOJ started their notorious lawfare attacks.

Obviously, PDJT survived. The man is nothing if not tenacious. He also has a memory. More than that he has a tremendous love and respect for our great country. Many of the lawsuits entered against him helped to establish the basis for a number of legal points.

One of the Supreme Court decisions ruled that a sitting President is immune from prosecution for actions performed within the scope of his official duties. They did not, however, isolate him from civil liabilities for acts NOT within the scope of his official duties nor for acts not within the official scope.

In November of 2016, a cabal of government officials began a conspiracy to deprive the incoming President, one Donald J. Trump, of his ability to carry out the duties of the President. The notorious “Russia Collusion,” based upon a “dossier” paid for by Her Majesty Shillery Clinton, set the act in motion. The resulting “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation in July of 2016 failed to derail the Trump Campaign, so a more nefarious method was needed.

All (or at least a lot) of the incriminating evidence was left in place. The Marxists are nothing if not hubristic. Otherwise, someone might have thought to destroy the evidence. And as DNI Tulsi Gabbard has started releasing the evidence – and it looks like a LOT of it – the whistleblowers are clamoring to be heard.

So, while the investigation into the “AutoPen Scandal” proceeds, all of the usual – expected – suspects might be calling their lawyers. Comey, Clapper, Brennen, Shillery, and of course the ringleader himself, Barry Obozo.

First, Speaker Johnson has stated that Obozo will be “invited” to appear before Congress, and if a subpoena is necessary to encourage him, then he will oblige. Next, DNI Gabbard has requested a Grand Jury investigation to determine criminality for the suspects. Obozo may skate on the criminal charges, but how about the civil charges. The rest of the rats – Her Majesty included – might face criminal charges. And a more worthy bunch of suspects I could not imagine.

After all, as we heard incessantly until last January, “no one is above the law.” Even the ones who have held themselves to be above the law for decades.

The wheels of justice grind slowly. But we can hope that they will finally grind out the truth. And grind up a bunch of rats.

Karma will bite you in the end.

ciao,

The Snark

When The Keystone Cops Do An Investigation

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On Monday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Evidently, it was not a very thorough investigation.

The article reports:

An FBI draft memo from May 2016 stated reviewing the thumb drives would be necessary to conduct a “thorough and complete investigation,” including assessing national security risks associated with the private server. Yet the agency “never finalized the memorandum or submitted this request to the department,” according to the document released Monday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.

On Monday, The New York Post reported:

But the feds declined to “comprehensively” analyze those drives due to concerns about individual data caught up in the hack — despite an internal draft memo concluding it was necessary to “assess the national security risks” pertaining to Clinton’s private server use.

“This document shows an extreme lack of effort and due diligence in the FBI’s investigation of former Secretary Clinton’s email usage and mishandling of highly classified information,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) of the appendix.

The report was penned by then-DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who currently holds the same position at the Federal Reserve Board and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The investigation carefully avoided getting anywhere near the truth. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on the tarmac at Phoenix Airport on June 27, 2016, while Attorney General Lynch was overseeing the investigation, but it was just a coincidence that they happened to meet. I truly hope that the people who lied and ignored the law will be brought to justice at some point.

A Statement That Makes The Deep State Tremble

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The Federal Reserve is a misnamed sketchy operation. There is a book and a YouTube video called “The Creature From Jekyll Island” that explains the dirty tricks involved in the creation of the Federal Reserve and its true purpose. The Federal Reserve is neither federal nor a reserve. Auditing the fed is a really good idea that the fed has avoided for years.

On Monday, Hot Air posted an article quoting CNBC:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday suggested a review of the Federal Reserve that would go beyond the current controversy over building renovations and look at its overall function.

“What we need to do is examine the entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful,” Bessent said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Has the organization succeeded in its mission? If this were the [Federal Aviation Administration] and we were having this many mistakes, we would go back and look at why has this happened.”

The article also quotes Senator Rand Paul:

Dr. Rand Paul (R-KY) has reintroduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, famously known as “Audit the Fed” legislation to require a full audit of the Federal Reserve’s operations and increase congressional oversight of its decision-making. In conjunction with the bill’s reintroduction, Senator Paul also released the latest edition of his Waste Report, which exposed the Federal Reserve’s $600 million cost overrun on renovations to its Washington, D.C. headquarters—now projected to cost taxpayers $2.5 billion in total. The report underscores the lack of transparency and accountability at the Fed, which remains exempt from a full audit by Congress or the Government Accountability Office.

“No institution holds more power over the future of the American economy and the value of our savings than the Federal Reserve,” said Dr. Paul. “It’s long past time for Congress to stop shirking its duty and hold the Federal Reserve accountable.”

“It is Congress’ duty to hold the Fed accountable,” said Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). “For too long, the Federal Reserve has operated behind closed doors while making decisions that impact the American economy. Throughout my service in Congress, I have worked to audit the Fed, and this legislation is necessary to shine a light on the Fed’s operations and provide transparency to Congress and American taxpayers.”

The year 1913 was a horrible year for the Democratic Republic of America. That year gave us the federal income tax, the federal reserve, and the direct election of U.S. Senators. All three of those things need to go away.

Developing Our Work Force

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Author:   R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D. 

This country was built on the labor and work output of its citizens. President Trump, through many of his policies such as tariffs, eliminating unnecessary regulations, and encouraging cheap energy production is seeking to return manufacturing back to America. Once known as the manufacturing super power of the world, we have allowed ourselves to become dependent on other countries, especially communist China. Not smart.

Accomplishing the manufacturing goals he has set for our country will require not only government incentives and encouragement to build new factories and expanding existing capacity, but, most importantly, an effective and readily available workforce. Currently, it is estimated that there are close to 500,000 vacant jobs in the manufacturing sector of our economy. This problem was verified in a recent survey of 200 companies by the Manufacturing Institute. More than 65% of the companies surveyed reported that recruiting and retention of workers was the number one business challenge that they face.As manufacturers expand their production, this problem will only get worse unless steps are taken to expand available manufacturing workers. The problem will be made worse by the high percentage of manufacturing workers who are approaching retirement age.

One step that needs to be taken is to correct the false notion that modern manufacturing jobs are dirty, monotonous, and potentially dangerous. The reality is that current manufacturing takes place in high technology facilities that are safe and efficient. There is also the notion that manufacturing jobs are the purview of the lower class and are poorly paid. The reality in many cases is quite the opposite. Our younger people are being raised to believe that a college degree in just about any academic field will guarantee a successful well-paying career. As many graduates are finding out, that is not the case. The knowledge gained in many college majors does not align with what is actually needed in the real world. Tremendous amounts of money are expended on useless degrees that do not provide preparation for available jobs in today’s economy. Our country does not need more liberal arts degree graduates. College students should be encouraged and incentivized to pursue courses in engineering, technical training and financial skills needed by our expanding manufacturing companies. To give you an example, the son of a friend of mine graduated last year from college with a degree in the social sciences. Unable to find employment, he decided to take some courses in refrigeration and air conditioning at a local community college and immediately was able to get a good paying job with a local refrigeration company. It turns out that the small investment in courses at the community college, gave a much better return on investment, than his four-year degree.

Another step, would be increasing technical courses in high schools. Coupling this with part-time and summer jobs in the manufacturing sector will encourage students to pursue this type of career and job opportunity. Apprentice training should also be expanded.

Of course, the pay scale for manufacturing jobs must be sufficient to attract and retain skilled workers. President Trump’s tariffs should help make American manufacturing competitive with other countries. Penalties for stealing our manufacturing knowledge and advances must be put in place. For too long we have allowed countries like China to steal our intellectual properties. This is the only way we can ensure that the productivity of our workers will outpace other countries and allow us to pay higher wages.  While wages and career opportunities are primary incentives, we must also remove disincentives to work such as too many social and welfare programs that diminish the work ethic. Marxism destroys the motivation to succeed through hard work and encourages dependence on the government.

These suggestions should all help solve the worker shortage. We should not allow ourselves to rely on immigration as the source of needed workers. We are already having an assimilation problem in this country due the recent flood of immigrants. Immigration must be restricted to only those who are likely to accept our culture and traditions, otherwise we risk losing the essence of who we are as is happening in several European countries. We must focus on our citizens to provide what is needed to keep our country prosperous.

Fixing Discrimination In The USDA

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On July 21st, Just the News posted an article about changes in the disaster relief program standards for farmers.

The article reports:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has ended the Biden-era disaster relief program standards for farmers based on race and sex, which was praised by a legal watchdog that had been fighting the policies in court.

The USDA “has independently determined that it will no longer employ the race- and sex-based ‘socially disadvantaged’ designation to provide increased benefits based on race and sex in the programs at issue in this regulation,” the department said in its formal notice earlier this month.

The Southeastern Legal Foundation said  the USDA’s notice was in direct response to the watchdog’s victory in court in the case Strickland v. USDA. SLF’s lawsuit stopped eight disaster relief programs from the Biden administration that gave funds to farmers on the basis of race and sex, excluding white male farmers.

I am not a farmer, but it seems to me that disasters don’t discriminate according to race or sex. A flood or a drought is a flood or a drought.

The article concludes:

“Farming is one of the most important and difficult occupations in the world, where their hard work directly impacts everyone. They have to be able to do their jobs without having to worry about DEI nonsense, and we hope to see any forms of discrimination in federal programs come to a complete halt.”

A level playing field is always the best solution to any problem.

The Hair-On-Fire Media

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Lighting someone’s hair on fire tends to take their focus away from anything else going on. The tendency is to deal with the crisis at hand and focus on it until it is resolved—particularly if there is something going on that you want to ignore. In my opinion, the recent dust-up over the Epstein Files was designed to distract from the information political insiders knew was coming.

The mainstream media’s reaction to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s declassification of records regarding the 2016+ Russia Hoax has been interesting. Most of the media has ignored it. The media that has reported it (MSNBC for example posted the headline, “DNI Gabbard concocts odd ‘treasonous conspiracy’ theory, eyes Russia probe prosecutions,”) has simply denied that there is any substance to the charges against President Obama and his cadre. However, the CYA memo by Susan Rice on January 20 gives credence to the idea that something that was at least questionable was afoot. The subject of the memorandum that was released by the Director of National Intelligence is titled, “Intelligence Community suppression of intelligence showing “Russian and criminal actors did not impact” the 2016 presidential election via cyber-attacks on infrastructure.” This is not news to anyone who has done their own research in recent years.

Bill Still, of The Still Report videos on YouTube, is a retired newspaper editor and publisher. He reported on Hillary Clinton’s behavior after the September 7, 2016, debate where moderator Matt Laurer asked her a question that had not been previously submitted to her. Bill Still reports that she went into a screaming fit and yelled that she’d get that f*****g Lauer fired for this. Referring to Donald Trump, Clinton said, ”If that f*****g bastard wins, we all hang from nooses! Lauer’s finished, and if I lose, it’s all on your heads for screwing this up.” People don’t hang for losing elections. (source here) That quote also gives credence to what is revealed in the Director of National Intelligence Memorandum.

It will be interesting to see how much of the media is willing to cover this story accurately and to see where the story leads. This is a scandal, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Democrats and the mainstream media can successfully make it go away.

So Who Does Speak For The Party?

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On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article about one Democrat’s comment about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. The election will be held on November 4th.

The article reports:

The divide in the Democratic Party further widened this week when Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) publicly said that New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani “isn’t speaking for our party.”

As Breitbart News previously chronicled, Zohran Mamdani holds extremely far-left positions, most specifically on private property and Israel, with some questionable views on the Jewish state. Since coming within striking distance of becoming the mayor of New York City, moderate Democrats have been sounding the alarm. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Rep. Adam Smith attempted to distance Mamdani from the rest of the party.

“Look, the mayor of New York has never, never, ever been the leader of the Democratic Party,” Smith said when asked about Mamdani.

Smith then played off Mamdani’s prominence as being the result of the Democrats’ “Big Tent” platform.

“Mamdani isn’t speaking for our party, any more than I’m speaking for our party. It’s a big tent. It’s a big coalition,” he said before attacking President Donald Trump on his “Big, Beautiful Bill.”

The article concludes:

Jewish Democrats also denounced Mamdani for refusing to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” while refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

“To not be willing to condemn the term ‘globalize the intifada,’ it just demonstrates his callous disregard for antisemitism, terrorist activity,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

“Anyone that I care about couldn’t possibly distance themselves from him more,” Wasserman Schultz added. “It’s really terribly disturbing and potentially dangerous.”

Fellow Jewish Democrat lawmaker Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) said Mamdani is “either ignoring or gaslighting the public” when he said “globalize the intifada” is “a peaceful call.”

“I think he’s wrong on all those things,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). “If he can’t tell people ‘globalizing the intifada’ — if he can’t say that that’s antisemitic, then obviously he’s going to continue to add to the problem, not deflate it.”

Globalizing the intifada is a call for violence. I don’t think having a ‘big tent’ means that you have to welcome people who espouse violence into your political party.

We Have Some Work To Do Before We Achieve Honest Elections

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On Thursday, The Federalist posted an article about the need to clean up voter rolls in some of our most populous states.

The article reports:

Registered New Jersey voters pick a new governor in the Nov. 4 general election, but before that the state really needs to clean up its voter list.

After reviewing New Jersey’s statewide voter roll, a report from the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) shows an “urgent need for improved list maintenance practices,” after identifying more than 32,000 registration issues, many of which could allow people to vote more than once.

PILF found 14,059 duplicate registrations, with voters registered in New Jersey and at least one other state at the same time. But PILF did not look at all 50 states, meaning there are certainly more to be found. PILF identified duplicate registrations in New Jersey and Florida (6,972 cases), New York (5,725), and Pennsylvania (925).

PILF also found 15,655 registrations using fictitious birth dates, which are sometimes used as placeholders — such as New Jersey’s most common placeholder date, 1800-01-01, that is, 225 years ago. The PILF report found 5,166 such birthdates in Essex County, 2,108 in Passaic County, and 1,928 in Middlesex County.

The article concludes:

PILF sent a July 16 letter with its findings and a request for a meeting to Tahesha Way, who is both New Jersey’s lieutenant governor and secretary of state.

“New Jersey’s same-address duplication problem has improved since the Foundation last reviewed the voter roll and is down from more than 8,200 in 2022,” the letter said. “It appears the bulk of these duplicates are driven by placeholder/fictious dates of birth confusing any process to de-duplicate the rolls. As of this letter, 65 percent of the apparent duplicates contain placeholder dates of birth. It stands to reason that if New Jersey addresses its placeholder data problem, it will substantially aid in the de-duplication process as well.”

Way’s office did not respond to an email from The Federalist seeking a comment on the letter and asking whether the state intends to clean its voter rolls in time for the gubernatorial election.  

I lived in Jersey City for a short time as a child. I remember people with clipboards walking through graveyards in the late summer and early fall. Election fraud has been going on for a very long time.

Junk Food Is Becoming Healthier Under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.!

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On Friday, The Epoch Times posted an article about PepsiCo’s reaction to President Trump’s statement that Coca-Cola will be switching to cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. I am not saying that soda is healthy, but sugar is healthier than high fructose corn syrup. You take your victories where you can!

The article reports:

PepsiCo’s top executive indicated on July 17 that the company may switch Pepsi’s sweetener from high-fructose corn syrup to sugar, one day after President Donald Trump said Coca-Cola would soon be making the change.

“Same journey that we have in foods, we’re following in beverages. This is a consumer-centric strategy. We’re following the consumer,” Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo’s CEO, told investors on a call after being asked about Trump’s announcement.

“If the consumer is telling us that they prefer products that have sugar and they prefer products that have natural ingredients, we will give the consumer products that have sugar and have natural ingredients. So, this is a journey of following the consumer, trying to be a little bit maybe one step ahead of the consumer, but not too many steps. And it applies to both beverages and food.”

The article notes:

Laguarta’s announcement came during a call in which executives said that PepsiCo will relaunch its Lay’s and Tostitos brands later this year to highlight that they contain no artificial colors or flavors.

“We’re trying to elevate the real food perception of Lay’s. If you think about the simplest and most natural snack, it is a potato chip; it’s a potato, it’s oil, and it’s a little bit of salt—the most simple, no artificial ingredients,” Laguarta said.

The company also said it was expanding the use of avocado and olive oil across its brands, rather than the canola or soybean oil it uses. Some health influencers, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have promoted removing seed oils from food.

America may soon become the land of healthy junk food!

Bringing Americans Home

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On Friday, Fox News reported that ten Americans have been released from custody in Venezuela and are headed home to America.

The article reports:

Ten Americans are returning to the U.S. after being released from custody in Venezuela, the Secretary of State said on Friday. 

“Thanks to President [Donald] Trump’s leadership and commitment to the American people, the United States welcomes home ten Americans who were detained in Venezuela,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “Until today, more Americans were wrongfully held in Venezuela than any other country in the world. It is unacceptable that Venezuelan regime representatives arrested and jailed U.S. nationals under highly questionable circumstances and without proper due process. Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland.”

Rubio also thanked the State Department, inter-agency partners, and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.

The article continues:

He (Secretary of State Marco Rubio) said the U.S. also welcomes the “release of Venezuelan political prisoners and detainees that were also released from Venezuelan prisons. The Trump Administration continues to support the restoration of democracy in Venezuela. The regime’s use of unjust detention as a tool of political repression must end. We reiterate our call for the unconditional release of remaining unjustly and arbitrarily detained political prisoners and foreign nationals.”

The release is part of a prisoner swap in which Bukele agreed to release hundreds of Venezuelans being held in a maximum-security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in return for Salvadoran prisoners being held in Venezuela. 

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele was elected as President of El Salvador in 2019. He has transformed the country–drastically reducing the crime rate and the homicide rate. His cooperation with President Trump has helped make America safer and his own country safer.

A Definite Step In The Right Direction

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On Thursday, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posted an article about Health and Human Services using the rule-making process to prevent the federal government from directly funding sex-altering procedures on minors. Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), National Review currently fund these procedures.

The article quotes The National Review:

The Department of Health and Human Services will soon begin the rule-making process to prohibit the federal government from directly funding sex-trait modifications for minors through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), National Review has learned.

The White House is in “the final stage of review for a new rule that would make it a condition of hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid that they not provide sex trait modifications to minors,” according to an administration official. The prohibition will apply to hospitals that provide puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender-transition surgeries to minors.

The groundbreaking decision by the White House to use the power of the executive to ban federally funded gender-transition services for minors follows an unsuccessful attempt by congressional Republicans to ban federal funding for such practices through the budget reconciliation process. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that the legislative language included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” did not clear the Byrd rule, prompting GOP lawmakers to spike the language from the final bill that passed earlier this month.

The article explains the significance of using the rules process for this item:

How do we know this will happen? Using the rules process practically ensures it. Most administrations make the mistake of skipping over these steps in haste to make their point, but courts take the Administrative Procedure Act very seriously. An executive order does not overcome the APA in matters such as these. The use of the rulemaking process will slow this down, but it will also ensure that the changes will be legally bulletproof, or as bulletproof as activist district courts allow them to be. 

The article concludes:

…If providers are defrauding Medicare and Medicaid to get paid directly for pediatric sex-change therapies, their CMS funding can stop immediately. HHS has the authority to enforce its rules by suspending or excluding providers engaged in fraud from federal repayments, and the DoJ can and often does take up those cases on a criminal basis as well. 

The best part of this will be the rethinking it will require. The UK has already cut its support for pediatric sex-change therapies after the Cass Review determined that puberty blockers did nothing to address pediatric gender dysphoria while essentially sterilizing children. Another major study on the issue here in the US got suppressed last year for allegedly coming to the same conclusion. Both HHS and the DoJ are already investigating several cases of detransitioners who claim now to have gotten pressured into life-changing surgeries and therapies by providers who also receive CMS funding.

HHS sent a warning signal in May over the lack of sound scientific or medical evidence for pediatric sex-change therapies. This is just the next shoe dropping on radicalized providers pushing fad medicine and maiming children for virtue signaling. It won’t be the last. 

This is child abuse and needs to be stopped. Cutting off the federal funding is a good first step in that direction.

The View From The Lair

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Tar Baby

Some of you may be of such tender years as to be unfamiliar with the term “Tar Baby.” For those of us who have reached sufficient maturity (i.e. old) and especially from that region of the country south of Richmond, you might remember “Tales of Uncle Remus” or the movie version “Song of the South.” “Song” was Disney’s pean to systemic stereotypical racism, according to modern progressives (yes, I know, redundant.)

The Tar Baby (to remind those of us who are forgetful) was a trap, a dummy, made of tar and turpentine to look like a person. The purpose was to catch Br’er Rabbit. Which it did. The sticky tar captured his paws as he attempted to administer punishment for disrespect. So, the harder he tried to escape, the harder the trap held him.

The legacy of Jeffrey Epstein seems to have become PDJT’s “Tar Baby.” I have hard time believing that Merrick Garland and Chris Wray are smart enough to have done it on purpose, though possible. To me, the more likely result is that they simply allowed all the noise and shouting about Epstein to overwhelm the conservative base until the new administration had to respond. Which they did.

But did AG Bondi and FBI Direct Patel, plus FBIAD Bongino make their declarations before carefully examining the actual evidence? Bongino said he saw the jail video. And agreed that it had to be suicide. Now the released video has been demonstrated to have been edited. Did Dan see the edited video or the original? Who authorized the editing? And did the editing hide the evidence? Is the Deep State still at work within the FBI?

AG Bondi said she had “lists of names.” But what were those names? Simply people whom Epstein had associated with? Which would include Bill “Slick Willy” Clinton, Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, and many others, many MAY have had nefarious dealings, many did not. Apparently, Prince Andrew did. Slick Willy is certainly a suspect. There are photos of a young Donald Trump with him. Not good optics.

Epstein was described as a “financier” with no evidence that he had any ability of the sort. So where did he get his substantial wealth? Blackmailing wealthy “associates”? As a cut out between Israel and the CIA?

Epstein was a pedophile; truly a despicable piece of human debris. Obviously, a liar. But to mention people that had been seen with him as being on an “Epstein list” would certainly taint those people with guilt by association. While not criminally liable, civil suits would certainly arise without significant disputation of any associative guilt.

He was quite clever as well as slimy. POTUS promised to reveal all the information that was legally possible, without revealing key investigative details. Now he says just “fuhgeddaboudit.” And the trap is holding.

The base feels abandoned on this promise. Never mind all the promises kept, it just takes one to disrupt the trust. Transparency is required, though with DJT’s pre-presidency reputation as a playboy, transparency may be close to, or simply, impossible.

PDJT is human, after all. He has changed A LOT over the years. And still the best president of the last two centuries.

But he is in a sticky situation.

ciao,

The Snark

Should We Trust The Experts? 

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.  

We are frequently told “The experts say….” with the implication that we should trust the so-called “experts” who know better than we do. The question is, “How is that working out?” Logically, it seems to make sense to trust the opinion of those people who theoretically know more about a topic than we do. This is especially true in our increasingly complex and technical society.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, United States v. Skrmetti, refuted the argument raised by the plaintiffs (advocates for transgender altering medication and surgery on children) that lawmakers in Tennessee should go along with the experts when writing legislation and making law. In the 6 to 3 majority opinion, the judges ruled that the legislators in Tennessee had the right to enact a law abolishing gender-altering medication and surgery, regardless of the opinion of so-called experts such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association. According to the court, the common-sense wisdom of the people should take precedence over groups of experts. This was a decision of historic importance since it reasserted the principle of government by the people– not by some elite group.

Looking back over the recent past reveals numerous instances where the experts have been proven to be wrong. A far reaching and dramatic example is the experts who have been claiming that the earth’s climate will undergo devastating, irreversible warming if we do not cease burning fossil fuels. Turns out that all these predictions were founded on unproven data and mere speculation about the future. Computer models were used by the environmental extremists rather than verifiable scientific facts. Nevertheless, a large percentage of the expert worshipers went along, forcing us to demolish the greatest most economical source of energy in favor of expensive, unreliable solar and wind power generation.

A more mundane example was the expert’s war on the consumption of eggs that started in the late 1970s. We were told that eating eggs would raise deadly cholesterol causing an epidemic of heart disease. The fact that no definitive scientific proof existed at the time to validate this warning did not seem to matter to the experts. They knew what was best for us, and like a bunch of sheep, many of us just followed along. Recent evidence appears to show that not only does eating eggs not increase the risk of heart attacks, it may actually reduce the levels of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol. I have not heard any of the experts apologize for the misinformation about eating eggs.

There are many other examples of the experts being wrong which lead to the question of why? How can this be the case? One factor is that many experts are not merely accumulators of facts, but already have a bias towards one side of an issue. Funding of research is frequently provided by organizations and corporations that stand to benefit from a particular outcome. For example, millions of Americans are taking statin medications to lower cholesterol and hopefully reduce the likelihood of a heart attack. The evidence for this is not as definitive as most of us would like, but the prescribing of statins certainly helps Big Pharma.

It is past time to listen to the advice of experts with a healthy level of skepticism. Wisdom is not a function of the number of degrees a person has accumulated. We must take upon ourselves the ultimate responsibility for decisions that affect our lives and not rely solely on experts. Fortunately, we live in an era where a great deal of information is readily available on the internet. We must trust our own judgement and weigh the facts and the sources of the information. We should have the courage to stand up to such absurd notions that a child can alter their gender despite the genetic differences imposed by nature. Of course, public education and universities staffed with extreme Leftists are a major source of much of the indoctrination we see in our society. This influence must be counter balanced by reasoned conservative staff and teachers to provide a balanced perspective. The common sense of the people must be allowed to manifest itself and not be controlled by over deference to the experts.

Exactly What Does The Big Beautiful Bill Do To Medicaid?

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On Wednesday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on Medicaid.

The article reports:

Signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, the GOP’s sweeping tax and spending package projects over $1 trillion in savings from Medicaid reforms. While Democrats have portrayed the changes as an unprecedented assault on the health care system, they ignore the explosive surge in Medicaid spending over the past decade and mischaracterize reforms that mainly target a widely exploited funding loophole and nonworking, able-bodied enrollees.

“What we’re seeing from the left and special interest groups are blanket fear-based arguments against the proposal,” Nina Owcharenko Schaefer, director of the Center for Health and Welfare Policy at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “These are just common-sense changes that tighten up the existing structure of the Medicaid program, weed out fraud, waste and abuse, and help the system function better.”

The article explain one way the Medicaid system is exploited:

Just a day before the bill’s passage, a rural hospital in Nebraska announced that it would be shutting down, citing “anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid.” Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont warned it would be the “first of many hospitals to close” because of the “horrific cuts.”

Yet, many of the key reforms — including the crackdown on “provider taxes,” which critics describe as a gimmick used by states to inflate Medicaid costs and extract more federal dollars — will not take effect until 2028.

The federal government matches a portion of each state’s Medicaid expenditures. To maximize this match, many states tax hospitals and other healthcare providers, then return that money to them as Medicaid payments, creating the appearance of higher state Medicaid spending.

“Provider taxes are basically funding gimmicks and legalized money laundering that allow states to scheme federal taxpayers into footing the bill for bailouts to hospitals,” said Dublois.

The article concludes:

Democrats such as New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, have claimed that work requirements “will result in millions of Americans losing health care coverage and getting sicker due to bureaucratic paperwork requirements,” while some corporate media outlets have argued states would struggle to build systems to track compliance.

However, with implementation still years away, Dublois said states have a “lengthy runway to get this done,” adding that “[Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] provides guidance to those states well in advance of when those work requirements need to be implemented, and there will be CMS grant funds available to states to help implement them.”

State Medicaid agency data obtained by the FGA through Freedom of Information Act requests reveal that 62% of non-elderly, able-bodied individuals on Medicaid did not work. Additionally, the American Enterprise Institute found in May that Medicaid recipients who do not work spend 4.2 hours per day — or 125 hours a month — watching TV and playing video games, more than 50% above the 80-hour work requirement.

“It’s the common-sense parts of the bill that are hard for liberals to argue against, so they don’t want to look at what’s actually in the bill,” said Schaefer. “A lot of the fearmongering out there is saying, ‘We just want the status quo to run as is. Let’s keep our heads in the sand and let’s not worry that we’re spending a trillion dollars on a program that is supposed to be for very low-income people.’”

Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I believe that people who are able to work and do not have small children should be required to work in order to receive government benefits. The rest of us are required to work to pay those benefits.

At Least They Broke Ground

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Sixteen years ago, California and the federal government began funding a plan for high-speed rail that was to run from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim via the Central Valley. The state did actually break ground for the project, but in sixteen years, not one inch of track has been laid. The project was going to take until the end of the century to complete at a cost of $130 billion. 

On Wednesday, Fox Business reported:

California’s embattled high-speed rail project suffered a major setback after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the termination of $4 billion in unspent federal funding by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

Citing 16 years of failure, no completed high-speed track, and escalating costs, Duffy declared the project, dubbed the “train to nowhere,” a mismanaged and over-budget “boondoggle.”

“This is California’s fault. Governor Newsom and the complicit Democrats have enabled this waste for years. Federal dollars are not a blank check – they come with a promise to deliver results,” Duffy said in a statement.

The announcement followed months of scrutiny after a comprehensive compliance review, plus failed attempts by the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) to address serious project deficiencies.

The article quotes President Trump:

“This boondoggle, led by the incompetent Governor of California, Gavin Newscum, has cost Taxpayers Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we have received NOTHING in return except Cost Overruns. The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” Trump continued.

“This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED. Thanks to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again. This was an ill-conceived and unnecessary project, and a total waste of Taxpayer money — But no more!”

The article concludes:

In addition to canceling $4 billion in unspent federal funds to CHSRA, Duffy directed FRA to review other obligated and unobligated grants related to the CHSRA project.

The 300-page damning report, released back in June, examined the project and found delays, missed deadlines, mismanagement, waste, skyrocketing costs, budget shortfalls and overrepresentation of projected ridership. 

Other key findings revealed that the project faced ongoing — and likely increasing — contractor cost overruns due to delays and that the CHSRA failed to finalize contracts for its high-speed trainsets on time.

The project was initially touted as a two-phase visionary system connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco, and later north to Sacramento, and south to San Diego.

The report states that despite the money already plowed into the project, there is a $7 billion funding gap to complete a subset of the first phase in the Central Valley from Merced to Bakersfield, known as the Early Operating Segment (EOS).

Since the project’s inception, it has been dramatically reduced from an 800-mile segment to a 171-mile segment. 

The federal government is not good at building infrastructure projects at a reasonable cost. I remember the “big dig” in Boston.

 

This Is Not Surprising

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Money does not totally control elections, but it can easily make a difference. If money could buy the Presidency, Hillary Clinton would have been elected in 2016. According to The Financial Times, Kamala Harris spent $1.9 billion on her 2024 campaign (in just a few months) and President Trump spent $1.6 billion in 2024. Again, money was not the determining factor. However, it can make a difference.

On July 13th, The American Thinker posted an article about some of the money behind the New York City mayoral campaign of Zohran Mamdani.

The article reports:

Investigative reporter Paul Sperry has uncovered an interesting fact about leftist mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani:

BREAKING: Alex Soros has funneled $24 mil to the NYC mayoral campaign of Muslim Zohran Mamdani thru his fundraising arm Working Families,which means Soros’ wife HUMA ABEDIN,whose parents are Muslim Brotherhood, “will control the mayor of NY,” a lawyer investigating Abedin told me

— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) July 12, 2025

 The article also notes:

The New York Post reported something similar:

Socialist Zohran Mamdani has declared billionaires shouldn’t exist, but it’s unlikely he’d be the front-runner to become the Big Apple’s next mayor if it wasn’t for one — far-left kingmaker George Soros, financial records reviewed by The Post show.

…

 … in less than a decade, Soros’ ultra-woke grant-making network Open Society Foundation has indirectly funneled a combined $37 million to the Working Families Party and at least other nine left-wing groups whose endorsements and get-out-the-vote groundwork played a pivotal role in helping Mamdani upset ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary, the foundation’s records show.

The article concludes:

Sperry notes the additional detail that Huma Abedin, who must be viewing control of the New York City mayor’s office with irony given that she almost had it when she was married to Anthony Weiner, and now sees it within reach again, has ties to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, as does Mamdani himself. That’s an ugly twist, if not the center of the plot.

In addition, Fox News notes that 70% of Mamdani’s support comes from not just Soros, but the Hollywood elites, the Silicon Valley elite and other usual suspects well outside the purview of New York City.

It’s a grotesque picture. What indeed is the real agenda here, other than complete and total power of the kind the Soviets could only dream of?

One can only hope that as news like this gets out, the New York public isn’t going to fall for it. Chicago did, Los Angeles did — but is New York a little smarter?

Time will tell, but obviously, some loathed moneybags are propping this ignorant socialist clown upward. In San Diego, news of a woke district attorney candidate’s involvement with Soros did sink such a candidacy. Forewarned is forearmed.

One can only hope that this sunlight will see the same response from New York’s voters.

The results of this election will probably have a noticeable impact of the population of New York City after the election.

Sanity Returns To The Auto Industry

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Electric cars may be a good idea if you live in a city with a temperate climate, but they are a problem if you live in a place with very cold winters or if you plan a long trip. Cold weather significantly impacts the life of the battery, and a long trip in an electric vehicle requires planning based on where the car chargers are and whether they are fast-charging or slow-charging. There may be a future for electric cars, but I believe some more tweaking of the technology is necessary. Ultimately, the free market should determine the success or failure of electric cars–not the government.

On Tuesday, Breitbart reported:

General Motors has announced plans to expand production of gas-powered vehicles and SUVs in Michigan as well as the manufacturing of pickup trucks.

The Detroit-based auto manufacturer said in a statement on Tuesday that it will “begin production of the Cadillac Escalade, as well as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light duty pickups at Orion Assembly in early 2027 to help meet continued strong customer demand.”

According to CNBC, the Escalade is produced in Arlington, Texas, while the Silverado and Sierra trucks are made at an assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which will continue to produce the vehicles.

The article concludes:

While GM has seen a surge in EV sales recently, overall customer demand for EVs have not met expectations.

“For years, the automotive industry has been in a state of EV euphoria. Automakers trotted out optimistic sales forecasts for electric models and announced ambitious targets for EV growth. Wall Street boosted valuations for legacy automakers and startup entrants alike, based in part on their visions for an EV future,” CNBC reported.

“Now the hype is dwindling, and companies are again cheering consumer choice. Automakers from Ford Motor and General Motors to Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans,” it added.

Why I Would Never Retire In Rhode Island

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Rhode Island is a beautiful state. My husband was stationed there in the late 1960’s, and I fell in love with the state. However, I would never retire there. Partially because of the taxes, but more importantly because of some of the insanity of the state’ politics.

On Wednesday, David Strom at Hot Air reported:

ICE apprehended a known MS 13 gang member with a history of trafficking fentanyl, and Rhode Island politicians exploded in rage that they did so.

The perp, Ivan Rene Mendoza-Meza, had benefited from the catch-and-release policies that are so prevalent these days–after all, you wouldn’t want ICE to be able to deport dangerous criminals, right?–so ICE was forced to track him down and apprehend him.

They did, and all hell broke loose. Providence politicians insanely held a press conference vowing to track down any evidence that Providence police might be involved, and promised to get to the bottom of this potential scandal.

The last thing you want is the police helping arrest a known gang member who is selling poison to the public. It’s Nazism to do that!

Ensuring that he couldn’t get outflanked on the left, a Rhode Island State Representative (State Representative Enrique Sanchez of Providence HD-9) went on a crusade (is it racist to say “crusade?”) against ICE. They were oppressing a “neighbor” of his constituents. They “kidnapped” him! 

The article concludes:

It’s not only striking that these politicians would hop in front of the cameras to express outrage that a violent criminal who poisons children was arrested, but that they can be certain that their constituents will applaud them for doing so.

This is the power of Critical Theory brainwashing.

Rhode Island is a beautiful state in need of some serous reforming to keep its children and its citizens safe.

The Fight For Fiscal Sanity

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On Tuesday, The New York Post reported the following:

Vice President JD Vance cast two tie-breaking votes in the Senate Tuesday to move forward a $9.4 billion rescissions package — which would rip federal funding from PBS and NPR — in the upper chamber. 

The Senate deadlocked, 50-50, on two procedural votes to start debate on the multibillion-dollar spending clawback package before Vance’s votes advanced the measure requested by the White House. 

Three Republicans — Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) — joined all Democrats in opposition to the bill. 

The article includes this statement:

Collins defended her “no” vote by arguing that OMB didn’t provide senators with details about what programs would be scrapped as a result of the clawback.

How many times has Collins voted on a bill without knowing exactly what is in it?

The article notes:

The Maine Republican also described the cuts to public broadcasters as “excessive” and expressed concern that PBS viewers would lose access to “popular programs like ‘Antiques Road Show’ and ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.’”

“I share the frustration with the biased reporting by NPR, and I would support defunding it,” Collins continued. “Nevertheless, local TV and radio stations continue to provide important coverage.”

She noted that CPB funding in Maine supports the state’s emergency alert network and allows high school basketball games to air on television.

PBS should be required to stand on its own just as other broadcasters are. They have no official commercials, but they fund raise and name sponsors. Frankly, if they had had any copyright lawyers worth their salt in the early days of Sesame Street, they would have been set for life on Tickle-Me Elmo.

The article concludes:

The Senate now has at least 10 hours to debate the measure before amendments are voted on and a final vote takes place.

The House, which passed the measure 214-212 in June, would then need to consider the changes the Senate makes to the bill.

The Latest Inflation Numbers

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When reading statistics about anything, remember that a good statistician can make numbers say anything he wants them to say. With that in mind, I think the June inflation numbers look really good.

On Tuesday, CNBC reported:

  • The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of goods and services costs, increased 0.3% on the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.7%, in line with expectations.
  • Core inflation picked up 0.2% on the month, with the annual rate moving to 2.9%, with the annual rate in line with estimates.
  • While the evidence in June was mixed on how much influence tariffs had over prices, there were signs that the duties are having an impact. Apparel and home furnishing prices rose, though vehicle prices fell.

…Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core inflation picked up 0.2% on the month, with the annual rate moving to 2.9%, with the annual rate in line with estimates. The monthly level was slightly below the outlook for a 0.3% gain.

Inflation in June 2022 was 9.1 percent, but began going down slowly after that. Somehow, though, even when the rate of inflation comes down, the price of everything does not go back to where it started.

The article concludes:

Amid the previously muted inflation ratings, Trump has been urging the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which it has not done since December. The president has insisted that tariffs are not aggravating inflation, and has contended that the Fed’s refusal to ease is raising the costs the U.S. has to pay on its burgeoning debt and deficit problem.

Central bankers, led by Chair Jerome Powell, have refused to budge. They insist that the U.S. economy is in a strong enough position now that the Fed can afford to wait to see the impact tariffs will have on inflation. Trump in turn has called on Powell to resign and is certain to name someone else to the job when the chair’s term expires in May 2026.

Markets expect the Fed to stay on hold when it meets at the end of July and then cut by a quarter percentage point in September.

The Federal Reserve was established in 1913 for the purpose of concentrating America’s wealth in the New York City Banks (yes, I know that wasn’t what you were told). It needs to go away. For further information, see The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin.