Monthly Archives: July 2025

It’s Not Easy Being Green

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Theoretically, green energy is a great idea. Wind is free; the sun is free. However, the quest for practical, dependable green energy bears a resemblance to the quest for a perpetual motion machine. In theory, it’s a great idea. It practice, it needs work.

On Monday, The Gateway Pundit reported:

Around the world, the unreliability of the new power-generating technologies and the unwise rush towards ‘net-zero’ goals are leading the countries most invested in these ruinous policies into deep power supply troubles.

After blackouts in Spain, Portugal and parts of France two months ago, now it’s the ultra-liberal kingdom of the Netherlands that is reaping the electricity shortage that they sowed with their woke agenda.

It arose today that the Dutch are now rationing electricity.

The article quotes The U.K. Daily Mail:

“More than 11,900 businesses are stuck in a queue for access to the network, alongside public buildings including hospitals, schools and fire stations.”

The present crisis comes as the Dutch concentrate efforts ‘to cut carbon emissions’.

“After shutting down production at the massive Groningen gas field last year, the Dutch government has pushed a fast transition to electric heating, solar power and battery storage.”

The national grid did not grow to demand, creating widespread bottlenecks, and increasing costs.

“Officials estimate €200 billion will be needed by 2040 to expand grid capacity. Electricity prices are already among the highest in Western Europe, and Dutch households face yearly tariff increases of up to 4.7 percent for at least the next decade.”

The world runs on fossil fuel. It can run very efficiently on fossil fuel. In fact, if you look at what goes into the manufacturing of some of the green energy infrastructure, fossil fuel in many cases has a smaller carbon footprint and does less damage to the environment. However, in an effort to be trendy, many governments have pushed green energy. Now their citizens are paying the price.

Slowly Getting Judicial Confirmations Done

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On July 10th, The New York Post posted an article about Whitney Hermandorfer, the first of President Trump’s judicial appointments to be confirmed this term.

The article reports:

The Senate on Thursday cleared the way to confirm the first judicial appointment of President Trump’s second term, marking a slower tempo than at the same point of both his first term and that of President Joe Biden’s.

By a 51-43 party-line vote, the Senate moved to conclude debate on Whitney Hermandorfer’s nod for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, teeing up an expected vote next week.

At this stage of Trump’s first term, the Senate had already confirmed two court nominees — Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Sixth Circuit Judge Amul Thapar.

By next week, that figure will shoot up to three, including US District of Idaho Judge David Nye, who was confirmed in July of 2017.

Meanwhile, former President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats had already wrangled through 14 judges at this stage of 2021.

The Democrats have decided to fight President Trump’s agenda through the courts and are probably going to drag their feet in confirming the President’s judicial nominees. This is one of many reasons that the Republicans need to gain Congressional seats in the mid-term elections.

The article notes:

In the past, confirmations used to be more cumbersome because they had to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to break a filibuster from the minority party. In 2013, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used the nuclear option to eliminate that in most instances.

Republicans won back the Senate the following year.

Reconfiguring the ideological composition of the judiciary has been a key goal of administrations from both political parties. But the GOP-led Senate has been busy with other priorities as well.

Harry Reid was warned that using the nuclear option would come back to bite him in the future. It did. The Democrats were so used to being in the majority that they couldn’t envision losing that majority.

It’s Time To Make The Cuts

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The amount of fraud and waste discovered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is amazing. It’s time to see the waste they discovered removed. If you found termites in your basement, you would call an exterminator. Somehow not all of Congress wants to deal with the termites!

On Monday, The Daily Caller reported:

Speaker Mike Johnson is putting pressure on Senate Republicans to pass President Donald Trump’s rescissions package.

Johnson told reporters Monday that clawing back just $9 billion in funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid should be an easy vote for Republican senators. The speaker’s remarks come as several GOP senators have said they oppose some of the proposed cuts and signaled they will vote against the rescissions request if the package is not amended.

If the Congress wants to remain in Republican hands, they need to respect the wishes of the voters and cut!

The article concludes:

Collins and other GOP senators, including Lisa Murkowski of Alsaka and Mike Rounds of South Dakota, have expressed concerns about the potential impact of cuts to public broadcasting programs for rural areas in the respective states.

“I hope you feel the urgency that I’m trying to express on behalf of the people in rural Alaska and I think in many parts of rural America where this is their lifeline,” Murkowski told White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought during an appropriations hearing in June.

The White House and congressional leadership have countered that the proposed cuts are necessary to begin making headway on the country’s $37 trillion national debt.

“This is supposed to be the lower hanging fruit,” Johnson continued. “As usual, I asked them [the Senate] not to modify our work.”

Trump has said that he will not take kindly to the Senate weakening cuts to public broadcasting within the rescissions package.

“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Rescissions Bill,” Trump wrote Thursday on the social media platform Truth Social. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”

If Public Broadcasting were an unbiased network supplying unbiased news and programming to Americans, it might be worth funding. But that is not what it is. Also, it is time we got back to funding the things that the Constitution tells the federal government to fund and defunding everything else. That would surely balance the federal budget quickly!

The Story Keeps Changing

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I thought former President Biden said he approved all of the pardons that were signed by autopen. Now he is saying something different.

On Monday, Breitbart reported:

Former President Joe Biden admitted to the New York Times that he did not individually sign off on each of the pardons issued via his autopen signature to batches of criminals at the end of his term, though he reportedly delineated criteria to staff.

…Per the outlet, Biden approved standards to give out categorical pardons to criminals in his final months in office, but staff ultimately ran a final list of names that supposedly met the criteria through the autopen, though it had been revised after Biden delineated the requirements:

Mr. Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed. Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence.

Even after Mr. Biden made that decision, one former aide said, the Bureau of Prisons kept providing additional information about specific inmates, resulting in small changes to the list. Rather than ask Mr. Biden to keep signing revised versions, his staff waited and then ran the final version through the autopen, which they saw as a routine procedure, the aide said.

Citing emails reviewed among the Biden team, the Times noted that then-White House staff secretary Stefanie Feldman was in charge of the autopen.

The article concludes:

In one instance, on January 19, the day before Biden left office, emails show that Zients personally gave his own sign-off on a last-minute draft summary minutes after receiving an email seeking its approval, according to the Times.

“…Mr. Zients hit ‘reply all’ and wrote, ‘I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons,’” according to the email.

The major revelations come as questions continue to mount about Biden’s cognitive acuity during his presidency, as well as the legitimacy of the pardons signed via autopen.

Is this even legal?

Making Hot Fudge Sundaes Healthier

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I love hot fudge sundaes–preferably with whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry. It looks like some upcoming changes in ice cream manufacturing will make my hot fudge sundae more healthy (at least a little more). There have already been changes in how the cherry on top of the sundae is colored–many manufacturers of cherries use red dye No. 3, which they must discontinue using by Jan. 15, 2027

On Monday, Investing.com reported:

U.S. ice cream makers are reportedly looking to eliminate several artificial colors from their products by 2028, a push following Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s stance to remove artificial additives from food.

This is part of Kennedy Jr’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) initiative to eliminate six petroleum-based food dyes by 2026, aiming to replace them with natural alternatives.

According to a Bloomberg report, citing the International Dairy Foods Association, a group of 40 producers, collectively responsible for more than 90% of the ice cream sold in the U.S. by volume, have pledged to remove synthetic colors voluntarily.

Several publicly traded U.S. companies produce ice cream, such as Unilever (LON:ULVR) (UL), which owns household names like Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, and Talenti; General Mills (NYSE:GIS) which operates Häagen-Dazs in the U.S.; and Nestlé, through its Froneri joint venture, manages brands like Dreyer’s and Edy’s.

Obviously, ice cream is not going to become a health food, but this is definitely a move in the right direction. It is encouraging to me to see America taking steps to remove questionable substances from our food supply. I may not agree with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on everything, but I think he has the right idea about cleaning up America’s food supply.

Amazing Perspective!

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On Sunday, The American Thinker posted an article about America’s destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The article reports:

Something called the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has won a Nobel Peace Prize for its opposition to the existence of nuclear weapons.

Its slogan is, “We must eliminate nuclear weapons before they eliminate us.”

Good plan. So, ICAN (what happened to the ‘W?’) must have applauded the Trump administration’s recent beatdown of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, right?

I mean, the U.S. used non-nuclear bombs to (hopefully) prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons, at least for a while.

Nope. ICAN denied that Iran was developing nuclear weapons and blamed America for refusing to give up its nuclear weapons. Much as it also condemned Israel for striking Iran’s nuclear-development facilities.

Americans would be speaking Russian and/or Chinese now if we had surrendered/destroyed our nuclear weapons, and Israel might not exist.

Not to be outdone, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW?), which helped found ICAN, also condemned Israel and urged it to create “a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone.”

The article concludes:

Iran’s nuclear weapons program was dealt a significant setback at the very least. And the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is too upset to admit it.

Wow.

It seems clear that the International Campaign to Abolish Reason and Sanity has been successful.

What would happen if the Middle East were free of nuclear weapons? Does anyone actually believe that Israel would exist if it were not assumed that it has nuclear weapons? I don’t think Israel has ever officially admitted that it has nuclear weapons. It doesn’t have to–just the idea that it might has been enough to provide some degree of safety for the country. Israel lives in a really bad neighborhood. Any weapon they need to keep their country from being overrun is okay with me.

About The Epstein Files

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Jeffrey Epstein was originally investigated in Florida in 2005 after a parent reported him for abusing her daughter. He pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 of two crimes. There was a plea deal, and he served 13 months. He was arrested again in July 2019, and was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019. In 2021, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of child sex trafficking and is currently serving a twenty-year sentence in a Florida prison.

During the presidential campaign of 2024, Americans were led to believe that the names of those involved in the activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell would be made public and those people would be brought to justice. Obviously, that has not happened. Is that important?

Well, maybe. The chances of anyone else going to jail are slim to none—actual proof that would stand up in a court of law is probably non-existent. There is also the matter of the statute of limitations. There may be some reasons to keep the names secret—not necessarily good reasons—but reasons.

If major political figures from America and other countries were involved in activities that were both illegal and awful, they obviously don’t want their names made public. They might be willing to cooperate with the current administration in exchange for their privacy. It is also possible that some may have been offered the deal of retiring quietly at a future date if they will cooperate with certain administrative goals. I am not saying this is true or good—I am saying this is possible.

At the present time, our government is corrupt. It is corrupt in both political parties. The only way to clean it up is to shrink the size of the bureaucracy that currently runs the government and elect people who are currently not in the government. Both of those things are easier said than done.

I doubt we will ever know exactly what went on in Epstein Island or who was involved, but I believe that those who were involved in nefarious activities will in some way eventually pay a price.

Failure to Assimilate: Creating Patriots

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.  

 We have a serious problem in this country which should no longer be ignored. That problem is the number of people in this country that not only do not love what America stands for, but, are hell-bent and determined to undo what we have built over the past and soon to be 250 years.

A recent poll reported that 49% of Democrats believe in the American way compared to 92% of Republicans. Quite a disparity. The two political parties could hardly be further apart on their love of this country. This was not always the case. In his inaugural address, Democrat President John F. Kennedy specifically called upon Americans to do what they could to support the American way of life. What does Barack Hussein Obama do? He goes on a world tour apologizing for America. In the 1980s, Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill met regularly and was friends with Republican Ronald Reagan deliberating on ways to move America forward on key issues. I cannot imagine Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer or Democrat Congressman Hakeem Jeffries working with President Trump in  a similar manner.

The question that needs answering is why so many members of the Democrat Party are moving so dramatically to the Left. In my opinion, there are at least two major reasons.

Number One is the influx of so many immigrants into this country over the past sixty years or so. Any country can only absorb a limited number of immigrants and still hope to maintain its political and cultural traditions, values, and beliefs. Not only does the number of immigrants matter, but also their country of origin. This country was built primarily on immigrants from Europe, most of whom shared Judeo/Christian values, and were more easily assimilated than immigrants from other countries with dramatically different values and traditions. The immigrants from countries that do not share our values increasingly make up a large portion of immigrants, especially illegals. Concern over the high number of immigrants resulted in Congress passing a law limiting the number of immigrants and actually establishing a series of quotas for each country. That law was in effect until Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy sponsored a bill that was passed and signed by Democrat President Lyndon Johnson that essentially removed immigration restrictions. The result has been a flood of immigrants, many illegals, that do not share our values and traditions. Sadly, President Reagan, who wanted to deport all illegal immigrants as President Eisenhower did in the 1950s, allowed himself to be talked out of deportation. We must not allow that to happen again. All persons here illegally should be removed.

The consequence of the no restriction immigration has been the move away from traditional America as we have known it and the election of people like Barack Obama, Kamela Harris, Illian Omar, and Alexandra Ocasio Cortez who bring leftist ideas with them. The recent nomination of Marxist Zohran Mandani for Democrat candidate for mayor of New York is another scary example.

Number Two is the failure of our public schools to teach the basic values and principles that made America great. We are no longer producing reliable patriots that love and respect this country. This is especially true in Democrat controlled cities and areas. Patriots are not born, they are made. The failure in this regard is most obvious in many universities where left leaning administrators and professors predominate. Polls consistently show that over 90% of college professors vote Democrat and conservative Republicans can scarcely be found on university campuses. President Trump’s efforts to remove federal funding of National Public Radio, a major leftist controlled media source, is long overdue.

So, what is to be done? First we need to return to restricted immigration with quotas. It worked before, and can work again. President Trump has shown what strong leadership can do to stop illegal immigration, but we must stop the rogue federal judges who continue to try to block him at every turn. Second, we must insist that universities receiving federal funds demonstrate that their administrative and teaching staff include equivalent numbers of conservatives. Allowing the Left to control our universities must be stopped. Now, these measures will require courage on the part of our elected officials, let’s hope they take this problem seriously and do something about it.

Tap Dancing Around The Issue

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The Democrat Party has always prided itself on having a ‘big tent.’ That has become something of a problem lately as they deal with New York City mayoral race and its leading candidate.

On Saturday, Legal Insurrection reported:

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s refusal to condemn chants of “globalize the intifada” made at the pro-Hamas protests he has frequently defended as a New York state assemblyman and candidate for New York City mayor continues to cause headaches for Democratic Party leaders and further widen existing fissures on the issue of Israel.

As Legal Insurrection reported, the latest example comes courtesy of DNC Chairman Ken Martin, who in a PBS interview earlier this week tapdanced around the subject when asked about it.

Instead of criticizing the Democratic NYC mayoral nominee, Martin cheerfully suggested that the Democratic Party was a “big tent” and welcomed all kinds of people and views, which apparently includes death chants with which he and others might merely disagree:

There’s no candidate in this party that I agree 100% of the time with, to be honest with you. There’s things that I don’t agree with Mamdani that he said.

But at the end of the day, I always believe, as a Democratic Party chair in Minnesota for the last 14 years, and now the chair of the DNC, that you win through addition, you win by bringing people into your coalition.

You even welcome someone who repeats the “globalize the intifada” slogan. Wow. That might make for a somewhat violent big tent.

The article also notes:

Sooo, if you’re keeping score at home, Mamdani can rap about supporting a Hamas terror-funding group, be a member of an extremist political party that doesn’t believe in Israel’s right to exist, be a part of the antisemitic BDS movement, and refuse to condemn death to Jews chants… and still be welcomed with open arms into the modern Democratic Party.

Wow.

A Positive Decision

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On Saturday, Breitbart reported that a federal appeals court has thrown out the agreement that would have allowed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks. The deal that was thrown out was negotiated over two years and approved by military prosecutors and the Pentagon’s senior official for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a year ago, stipulated life sentences without parole for Mohammed and two co-defendants. Frankly, I am somewhat surprised by the fact that the defendants are still alive. Is the goal to allow them to die of old age in Guantanamo?

The article reports:

Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Another of the hijacked planes flew into a field in Pennsylvania.

The men also would have been obligated to answer any lingering questions that families of the victims have about the attacks.

But then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin repudiated the deal, saying a decision on the death penalty in an attack as grave as Sept. 11 should only be made by the defense secretary.

Attorneys for the defendants had argued that the agreement was already legally in effect and that Austin, who served under President Joe Biden, acted too late to try to throw it out. A military judge at Guantanamo and a military appeals panel agreed with the defense lawyers.

But, by a 2-1 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found Austin acted within his authority and faulted the military judge’s ruling.

That is probably the only time I have agreed and will ever agree with Lloyd Austin.

It is time for the trials on those responsible for September 11 to end and the sentences be carried out.

 

The Terrorists In Our Midst

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On Thursday, The Independent Journal Review posted an article about the arrest of Rene Saul Escobar Ochoa, an MS-13 gang member, in Omaha, Nebraska.

The article reports:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested the high-ranking MS-13 gang member in Omaha, Nebraska, according to the agency. The individual, whom the administration has yet to identify, is a Salvadoran illegal migrant wanted in his home country for the murder of five different people and listed as one of El Salvador’s “top 100 most wanted” criminals. 

In addition to the aggravated homicide of five victims, the high-ranking gangbanger is accused of attempted aggravated homicide, deprivation of liberty and terrorist organization affiliation, according to ICE.

Arrested alongside the MS-13 kingpin was his associate, Rene Saul Escobar Ochoa, also a member of the gang and living in the U.S. unlawfully, according to the agency. Ochoa allegedly ordered fellow MS-13 members to carry out a number of crimes, including multiple homicides, drug trafficking, imprisonment and extortion.

The article concludes:

“When ICE agents move in to make an arrest, it is extremely important that the public not interfere,” ICE acting Director Todd Lyons stated. “The misinformation, and sometimes blatant lies, being spread around the country could result in someone stepping into a federal operation and suddenly finding themselves face-to-face with a killer who has nothing to lose.”

“Our ICE officers and agents are protecting your neighborhoods, even when you don’t know the threat is there, so either support them or get out of the way,” Lyons continued.

On July 4, nearly a dozen violent assailants, equipped with tactical gear and weapons, allegedly ambushed an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, resulting in one local police officer getting shot in the neck after they unloaded rounds of bullets at agents. On that same day, several rioters allegedly attacked federal agents at an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon.

Part of the violence we are seeing against ICE is the result of our government allowing Antifa and similar groups to engage in violent protests for years without consequences. How many people died in the summer of 2020? How many businesses were destroyed during that summer? How many people were actually charged with a crime? We are at a place now where the home-grown terrorists are attempting to prevent the deportation of the imported terrorists.

This Could Be The Start Of Something Big!

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On Friday, CNBC reported the following:

  • With government red ink swelling throughout the year, June saw a surplus of just over $27 billion, following a $316 billion deficit in May.
  • Customs duties totaled about $27 billion for the month, up from $23 billion in May and a 301% gain from June 2024.

CNBC notes:

That brought the fiscal year-to-date deficit to $1.34 trillion, up 5% from a year ago. However, with calendar adjustment, the deficit actually edged lower by 1%. There are three months left in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

A 13% increase in receipts from the same month a year ago helped bridge the gap, with outlays down 7%. For the year, receipts are up 7% while spending has risen 6%.

The government last posted a June surplus in 2017, during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Increasing tariff collections are helping shore up the government finances.

Customs duties totaled about $27 billion for the month, up from $23 billion in May and 301% higher than June 2024. On an annual basis, tariff collections have totaled $113 billion, or 86% more than a year ago.

The article notes that the interest on the debt is a major budget item:

Net interest on the $36 trillion national debt totaled $84 billion in June, down slightly from May but still higher than any other category with the exception of Social Security. For the year, net interest — what Treasury pays on the debt it issues minus what it earns on investments — is at $749 billion. Total interest payments are projected at $1.2 trillion for the full fiscal year.

Lowering interest rates would bring down that cost.

This Was Predictable

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On Friday, Hot Air posted an article about the rebuilding of the Pacific Palisades area in California that was destroyed by fire in January of this year. There is a strong possibility that rebuilding the areas as it was will never take place.

The article reports:

…But the process is still slow. As of midday July 1, 2025, the LA County Permitting Progress Dashboard showed 890 rebuild applications in the Eaton Fire area, but only 44 building permits have been issued, taking an average turnaround of about 10 weeks to get through the process.

And speed matters. A survey of fire victims found that the longer it takes to rebuild, the more likely it is people won’t move back.

“So even folks that fully intend to move back today, if this process, either through permitting or financing or insurance, takes more than three years, the percentage of people that want to move back drops to like 50%,” Kawahara says.

The article notes the government’s desire to change the character of the neighborhood:

Six months after the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled $101 million in funding Tuesday for “multifamily low-income housing development” that will “contribute to a more equitable and resilient Los Angeles.” The priority is for “geographic proximity to the fire perimeters of the Eaton, Hughes, and Palisades fires.” 

Earlier this year, The Center Square broke news that California state law and a local Los Angeles ordinance require fire-destroyed rent-protected housing — which includes all apartments in the city built before October 1978 — be replaced with low-income housing. Because the affordability requirements use county-level income data, not more local incomes, definitions for “low” and “very low” income housing reflect much lower incomes than the norm for the affluent Palisades community. 

“Thousands of families – from Pacific Palisades to Altadena to Malibu – are still displaced, and we owe it to them to help,” said Newsom in a statement. “The funding we’re announcing today will accelerate the development of affordable multifamily rental housing so that those rebuilding their lives after this tragedy have access to a safe, affordable place to come home to.”  

And some people wonder why Californians are moving out of the state. I believe that the property rights of the homeowners in Pacific Palisades are not being honored. That does not bode well for the economic success of the state. In 2010, I wrote an article discussing the correlation between property rights and prosperity (article here). Ignoring that relationship is not a good policy for any state or federal government.

Where Some Of The Unaccompanied Minor Children Went

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On July 11th, Townhall posted an article about a recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) raid at a cannabis farms in Camarillo, California.

The article reports:

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott confirmed 10 of the individuals discovered during an immigration enforcement operation at cannabis farms in Camarillo, California, were illegal immigrant minors.

Responding to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s X post calling President Trump “the real scum,” Scott revealed the “breaking news.”

“Here’s some breaking news: 10 juveniles were found at this marijuana facility – all illegal aliens, 8 of them unaccompanied,” he said. “It’s now under investigation for child labor violations. This is Newsom’s California.”

The Department of Homeland Security’s X account also responded to Newsom’s post: “Why are there children working at a marijuana facility, Gavin?” 

Another article posted at Townhall on July 11th reports:

We’ve gone beyond leftists being annoying and hysterical regarding disrupting Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. It’s now domestic terrorism. ICE conducted a raid on a cannabis farm in Camarillo, California, which devolved into a total circus. They tried to block vehicles, used human chain antics, and were being overall annoying. Then, things got violent. Video clearly shows an anti-ICE activist shooting at federal agents during the mayhem (via ABC 7):

This is in no way acceptable behavior. A political party that justifies child labor and illegal entry into America is not a political party–it is a lawless gang that has lost its way.

How The Media Works

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On July 11th, Issues & Insights posted an article about food stamps. The article is about how the media has dealt with the use of food stamps in the past few years. We heard very little about food stamp usage during the time the President Biden was in office. Now it is again important (according to the mainstream media) to bring up the  subject.

The article reports:

A headline in Axios over the weekend carried this scary warning: “An increasing share of American adults are going hungry.”

The “shocking data point” comes, the story says, “at a time when the stock market is hitting record highs and President Donald Trump just signed a bill slashing food benefits.”

But take a look at the chart Axios published in that tear-jerking story, which is based on data from Morning Consult. Notice anything?

Look at what has happened since Trump has been in office. It’s back down to where it was nearly two years ago and appears to be moving sideways.

Axios is hardly the only news site to claim that the One Big Beautiful Bill “slashes” food stamps – which now goes under the euphemism Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – and will cause millions to go hungry.

The article concludes:

Instead, Biden was praised for massively expanding spending on food stamps.

In his first year, SNAP spending shot up 43%. The New York Times reported at the time that Biden engineered “the largest permanent increase to benefits in the program’s history,” which will “add billions of dollars to the cost of a program that feeds one in eight Americans.”

All the OBBB does is set food stamp spending back on its previous, pre-Biden course.

Bear in mind that all this information is easily available to any reporter covering this story.

Of course, there’s the deeper problem with all these horror stories – namely, the assumption that a decline in the number of people getting food stamps is a bad thing.

Shouldn’t the goal be that nobody is getting food stamps? That no one is dependent on government to help them afford groceries, because the economy is booming, people are earning decent wages, and inflation is under control?

We can expect more of the media’s “we’re all going to die” scenario as the Big Beautiful Bill goes into effect.

A Common-Sense Move

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On Thursday, Just the News posted an article about a change Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is making in taxpayer-funded benefits.

The article reports:

The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday banned illegal immigrants from accessing the agency’s taxpayer-funded benefits.

Since 1998, HHS has interpreted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to let illegal immigrants use certain federal public benefits, according to the department. On Thursday, HHS announced that it has formally rescinded the interpretation that began under the Clinton administration.

“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said in a statement on Thursday. “Today’s action changes that—it restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.”

The article lists the benefits that are impacted by this decision. The list does not include SNAP payments and housing assistance, but it is a start. We need to remember that no one can be denied emergency medical care regardless of immigration status or ability to pay, so this change will not prevent anyone from seeking medical care in an emergency.

When you observe the number of illegal immigrants who crossed our borders during the Biden administration and the fact that they were able to collect welfare benefits at taxpayer expense, you wonder why. One possible answer is the implementation of the Cloward-Piven strategy. A strategy designed to overwhelm the safety net and pave the way for a socialist revolution. According to Cloward-Piven, a federal program of income redistribution is necessary to lift the poor en masse from poverty once chaos is established. This creates permanent dependency upon government and will prevent the election of any person who wants to cut government spending.

Simply Following Precedent

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On Tuesday, Victor Davis Hanson posted an article at The Daily Signal about the attacks on President Trump for being an autocratic dictator. Not only are the attacks without merit, they illustrate the double standard the media uses in evaluating presidential actions.

The article reports:

He’s getting attacked by the Left for autocratic use of presidential powers, he’s dictatorial. You’d almost forget that the Left and the Biden administration, in particular, through five criminal and civil courtrooms, fined him over $400 million, coordinated those legal harassments, and indicted him for 93 felonies. They tried to destroy, not just his candidacy, but his person, to bankrupt him and to jail him.

You would’ve forgotten that 25 states tried to take Donald Trump off the ballot. Nobody had ever done that before. Nobody had ever impeached a president twice. Nobody had ever tried a president, probably unconstitutionally, as a private citizen in the Senate, when he had already left office. No presidential candidate had been the subject of two ex-presidential assassination attempts. No ex-president ever had his home raided by the FBI.

So, we’ve forgotten all this and we’re supposed to think that Donald Trump is acting extra-constitutionally. But Donald Trump, I think, could remind people that he’s just following the precedents that he inherited. I’ll give you a few examples.

So, they’re saying he is deporting, deporting, deporting people. Well, former President Barack Obama deported more people in his tenure than any other prior president—2.5 million. And he focused on criminal aliens. He said so. Just like Donald Trump did. And as far as cages and detention centers, Obama created them. So, Trump just said, “I’m just following the precedent of Obama.”

They’re talking about extra powers of the president to harass people. Donald Trump had two members of his administration—Steve Bannon, in the first term, and Peter Navarro, his trade adviser—who were subpoenaed by Congress and they felt for no other reason but harassment in connection with Jan. 6. And they didn’t show up. And they tried to negotiate with Congress. And Congress jailed them.

Former Attorney General Merrick Garland was also subpoenaed by Congress, remember? And he just refused and there were no consequences. Former Attorney General Eric Holder was subpoenaed by Congress. There was no—and he refused.

And so, all Donald Trump should say, if anybody wants to be subpoenaed from the Biden administration, “We’re just following his example. We don’t really know what the rules are.”

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It is brilliant.

Sore Losers Can Be Dangerous

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On Tuesday, David Strom at Hot Air posted an article detailing some of the plans of the deep state. We are now at the point where the deep state is not only admitting that it is real, it is telling us its plans.

The article reports:

The irony is thick, but these federal employees–some former, some current–have told NOTUS (News of the United States) that they are turning their color revolution skills to taking down the President of the United States.

The following is from NOTUS:

“Take it from those of us who worked in authoritarian countries: We’ve become one,” said a currently employed federal official, who spoke to NOTUS on condition of anonymity. “They were so quick to disband AID, the group that supposedly instigates color revolutions. But they’ve done a very foolish thing. You just released a bunch of well-trained individuals into your population. If you kept our offices going and had us play solitaire in the office, it might have been safer to keep your regime.”

The former officials tell NOTUS they’re holding workshops on a tactic called “noncooperation.” They’re building a network of government workers willing to engage in even minor acts of rebellion in the office. And they’re planting the seeds of what they hope could become a nationwide general strike.

Some in the informal network of Trump opponents are sharing an old CIA pamphlet with allies who still work in the government: It’s called “Simple Sabotage.”

They wanted to simply have their offices continue even if they sat there and played solitaire all day. They doesn’t sound like any respect for sound fiscal policy in America.

If they truly believe that we have become an authoritarian country, why are they choosing to ignore the results of the last election? It seems to me that honest elections (which I believe we had) would be the actual antidote to authoritarianism and that refusing to cooperate with the results of that election would be moving toward authoritarianism. Evidently these people think that regardless of the election, they should be in charge, and they are willing to make trouble to bring that about. I think they belong in jail.

We Don’t Need To Import Terrorists–We Have Them Here

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On Tuesday, The Daily Caller reported that ten people have been charged in an attack on a Texas Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.

The article reports:

Police released mugshots Monday of suspects in a foiled Texas Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility ambush, revealing a cast of characters who fit the familiar profile of left-wing extremists.

The federal Department of Justice (DOJ) charged 10 people in connection with the July 4 attack on an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, that left a local police officer shot in the neck, according to the DOJ’s criminal complaint.

Johnson County Jail released photos of seven of those suspects to a local Fox affiliate, showing gaunt, pale figures such as Nathan Baumann and Zachary Evetts, along with a portly, pasty-looking woman identified as Joy Gibson.

The article includes the photos. These are troubled people. According to journalist Andy Ngo, they are members of a North Texas antifa “terror cell.  Two of them suffer from gender dysphoria. The ten are facing charges including attempted murder, attempted murder of a federal officer, discharging a firearm during a violent crime, and aiding and abetting, according to the DOJ.

Many Americans have lost sight of the fact that ICE is doing its job of enforcing the law. People who come here illegally have broken the law. If a stranger comes into your house and proceeds to camp out in your living room, chances are you are not going to allow them to live there. Our country is no different.

I Thought We Just Had “No Kings Day”

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President Trump is not a king. However, some judges seem to feel that since that role is empty, they should take it over.

On Monday, PJ Media reported:

It’s almost impossible to overstate the sheer audacity of what’s just happened in Massachusetts. In a move that defies both logic and the very foundation of our constitutional order, an Obama-appointed judge has swooped in to protect Planned Parenthood from the will of the American people as expressed through their elected representatives.

Judge Indira Talwani, sitting on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, decided that Congress—yes, Congress—doesn’t actually get to decide how taxpayer money is spent, at least not when it comes to the Left’s sacred cow.

Let’s be clear: This wasn’t a rogue executive order or some bureaucratic sleight of hand. Congress passed a law. The people’s representatives, accountable to voters, made a decision to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the One Big, Beautiful Bill. That’s how our system is supposed to work. If you don’t like it, you organize, you vote, you persuade your fellow citizens and change the law. That’s democracy. But apparently, that’s not good enough for the activist bench.

Instead, Judge Talwani issued a temporary restraining order, telling the executive branch not to enforce the law. Not because the law was found unconstitutional or even legally questionable—no, the judge didn’t bother to offer any real legal reasoning at all.

The ruling simply halted the will of Congress in its tracks, leaving Americans and even seasoned legal professionals scratching their heads. How does a judge order the executive branch to ignore a duly-enacted statute without first declaring that statute invalid? On what grounds?

This isn’t just a technicality. It’s a direct assault on the separation of powers and the legitimacy of our system. If judges can simply override Congress whenever they don’t like the outcome, what’s the point of elections? Why bother sending representatives to Washington if their decisions can be nullified on a whim by an unelected judge with a political axe to grind?

Planned Parenthood is a very lucrative enterprise. They totally understand how to use their money politically. Remember when it was proven that Planned Parenthood sells aborted baby body parts and the only person who got in trouble with the law was the person who exposed that fact? This case will probably get to the Supreme Court at some point, but until then, Planned Parenthood will continue making millions of dollars by killing babies.

The View From The Lair

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Despicable Stupidcrats

Now that most of you have recovered from your Independence Day bacchanalia, you have probably seen that there was a calamitous event in Kerr County Texas. The Guadelupe River had a flash flood, sweeping away children and adults from the Mystic Camp.

The latest death toll is 84 people dead, including 28 children. The rescue/retrieval efforts continue.

Of course, the Studipcrats blew up social media, proclaiming it to be Trump’s fault. Of course. I DO NOT frequent antisocial media, but the actual news sites that I frequent (Townhall, Tucker Carlson, Daily Signal, Just The News) all seem to have to expose the reactions of the Despicable Stupidcrats.

They point out that since POTUS has gutted the National Weather Service, there wasn’t sufficient personnel to deliver the necessary warnings. Except…the warnings went out. This was a unique event, occurring only several times in the past fifty years. The flood came at night, many of the warnings also came at night. Most everyone was sleeping. There is a reason it’s called a “FLASH FLOOD”! It’s unexpected!

Yes, there are scheduled reductions in force for the NWS. In October. Which means that the NWS that they are blaming is the same NWS that has been in place since Resident Rutabaga was in the White House. The same one that provided all the warning for Western NC for Hurricane Helene. Rember that one that devastated the western part of the state?

OH! It was climate change! So of course it was POTUS’ fault. Except while it was an extraordinary event, it wasn’t the only time it has happened. It flooded in 1987. This flood was the highest since 1932. 1932? So…devastating floods occurred before the climate change hoax was instigated?

The other reaction from the Despicable Stupidcrats was that Texas deserved it because it is a red state and that the children deserved it because they are all white Christians. REALLY? But they don’t believe in either God or Christ, so is Gaia wreaking out some revenge because of the kids being white Christians? Gaia would inflict such damage on her planet just to kill white Christian kids? I smell a large pile of BullSchiff being spread here.

I cannot express my contempt sufficiently here. Mary has reminded me that this must be family friendly. I am applying to several mafia families for their approval.

There is a difference between ignorance and stupid. Ignorance can be remedied with education and understanding.

While you can medicate it, you can’t fix stupid.

ciao,

Bubbles UP!

The Snark

The 4th at the Tryon Palace

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Pastor Daimon – CCTA Chairman

I certainly hope that everyone was able to enjoy their day on the 4th of July, celebrating Independence Day with family or friends in ways that will be memorable. This year there has been something incredibly patriotic in the air; an atmosphere of America’s greatness that I haven’t felt for decades. There was prayer everywhere, the Pledge of Allegiance, The Star-Spangled Banner, and the reading of the Declaration of Independence were everywhere, except…the Tryon Palace in New Bern. As much as I love our American history and our state’s history, the Tryon Palace’s place in our state’s history is not only paramount to North Carolina, but should be a strong representation for our state on the national level.

Oh, there was a reading of the Declaration of Independence, but the vacuum created by the absence of prayer, the Star-Spangled Banner, and the Pledge of Allegiance was as anti-American as I have seen in my lifetime for a place of such historical significance. There were no flags flanking the reader of the Declaration of Independence…United States flag nor the North Carolina flag. Then, there was the sneaky, surprise visit of a state dignitary, who for the time of the general election campaign totally ignored New Bern in his quest to obtain the office which he holds. Tryon’s Facebook photos are only 6 in number with 4 of them containing photos of this dignitary and none of the reader of the Declaration of Independence. Thank God for the other organizations that were present who displayed several photos of the events at the Tryon. Otherwise, the citizens who follow the Tryon Palace on Facebook would think that it was only a staged political make-up visit by this elected official.

This is not only my sentiments, but that of many citizens of New Bern whom I spoke with who visited that pitiful attempt of appeasement to our community which was a disaster to say the least. The staff and Administrators need to pay more attention to fulfilling the call to establish a patriotic celebration of America’s Independence on July 4th than to pushing a political agenda for individuals who have never shown any love or respect for the people of our community. Shame on you, Tryon Palace. This was supposed to be a gala and celebration of the 249th birthday of the United States of America. Maybe we need to replace the staff and organizers with true Patriots who love our nation. With all of the good, the bad, the ugly, and many failures, the United States is still the greatest nation in the history of the world with more victories than any nation has ever experienced. Victories not only for us, but the United States throughout its history has fought for many of its allies that they too may experience a sweet piece of liberty for their citizens. Tryon Palace should remember the purpose of July 4th and what a celebration of that day looks like.

The Economy Of Argentina

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Javier Milei became President of Argentina in December 2023. Upon taking office, he eliminated 10 of Argentina’s 18 government ministries, capped the salaries of top bureaucrats, and fired 34,000 public employees, cutting government spending by 30 percent. He also eliminated import licenses and lifted rent controls. The country’s economy has soared as a result of these moves. If the Democrats and the radical judges would get out of President Trump’s way, America could duplicate this accomplishment.

On June 26th, BBVA Research reported:

Argentina’s economy kept recovering in Q2 2025, driven by fiscal order, a re-monetization strategy, and a flexible exchange rate scheme. The outlook is still shaped by the electoral context and the challenge of ensuring lasting stability in a volatile global environment.

Key points

  • The global outlook remains volatile and shaped by trade tensions. Global GDP is projected to grow 3.0% in 2025 and 3.1% in 2026, with the U.S. being most exposed to tariff-related impacts.
  • Argentina’s recovery continues to strengthen: GDP is expected to grow 5.5% in 2025, with annual inflation projected at 30% and positive real interest rates supporting activity.
  • Fiscal discipline is sustained: a primary surplus of 1.6% of GDP is projected for 2025, above the 1.3% target agreed with the IMF, amid spending reallocation and uneven tax dynamics.
  • The new monetary and FX framework brought stability: the exchange rate gap closed, inflation eased more than expected, and the ARS/USD parity is projected to reach 1,400 by year-end.
  • Economic activity is expanding unevenly across sectors; the labor market showed a temporary pause in Q1 2025, and its performance will remain a key point of attention in the coming months.

Let’s follow their example!