Monthly Archives: April 2026

This Is Unacceptable

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Iran has been at war with America since 1979. President Trump finally decided to answer the call other Presidents have ignored or bribed their way out of answering. America (and Israel) are in the process of returning Iran to the Persians and strongly encouraging Iran to be a positive addition to the nations of the world. The American Democrat party is not interested in any of that–they just want to score political points.

On April 15th, The Hill reported:

House Democrats will introduce five articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing him of war crimes in connection with the Iran war, abuse of power and mishandling of the Department of Defense (DOD).

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), the first Iranian American Democrat in Congress, will introduce the impeachment resolution, Axios reported after it obtained a copy of the resolution.

Notice that the charges were introduced by an Iranian America. Her biography says that she is also a climate activist. It is interesting that in the current Iran, she would not be allowed to serve in the government.

The article notes:

Ansari announced last week that she was filing articles of impeachment, which are almost certain to go nowhere in the GOP-controlled House. She accused Hegseth of being “complicit” in President Trump’s “devastating, illegal war” in Iran.

The first article accuses Hegseth of violating his oath of office in overseeing an “unauthorized war against Iran and reckless endangerment of United States service members.” The resolution goes on to accuse the secretary of war crimes by targeting civilians and breaking the rules of armed conflict, followed by the alleged mishandling of sensitive information.

…The administration pushed back on the claims made in the resolution. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement to The Hill that it was “just another Democrat trying to make headlines as the Department of War decisively and overwhelmingly achieved the President’s objectives in Iran.”

“Secretary Hegseth will continue to protect the homeland and project peace through strength,” Wilson wrote. “This is just another charade in an attempt to distract the American people from the major successes we have had here at the Department of War.”

The actions of Representative Ansari during a time of war are despicable.

A Good Dog Doing His Job

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On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about a police dog named Pub.

The article reports:

A police dog named “Pub” helped two federal agents sniff out two massive cash seizures amounting to nearly $75,000 in undeclared cash in the first quarter of 2026.

Pub, a Belgian Malinois trained to find currency and firearms, alerted Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents to a hidden stash of $44,432 in February and another pile worth $30,417 in March.

The Belgian Malinois found 20 percent of the total undeclared cash discovered at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in the first quarter of the year. The larger sum was bound for Qatar, while the second was due for El Salvador.

Agents reportedly said they gave the suspects with undeclared cash “multiple opportunities” to confess before searching their belongings.

“Currency enforcement operations focus on detecting unreported and bulk currency smuggling, which has been shown to be proceeds of illicit activity, such as from narcotics and human smuggling, and fraud and other financial crimes that prey on our nation’s most vulnerable citizens,” CBP said in a release.

I did not realize that dogs could be trained to sniff out currency! Notice that the money was headed to Qatar and El Salvador. It would be interesting to know the source and destination of that money.

The Staggering Cost Of Free Stuff

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On Monday, The New York Post posted an article about New York City’s first city-owned grocery store.

The article reports:

Zo’s cheap groceries will cost taxpayers a pretty penny.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first-unveiled city-owned grocery store will cost a staggering $30 million to build from the ground up at East Harlem’s longstanding La Marqueta, officials confirmed – as local grocers worried it’d gobble up their business.

The new grocery at the  longstanding city-owned La Marqueta marketplace will run with a yet-to-be-picked operator reaping the benefits of a rent- and tax-free deal, City Hall officials told The Post on Monday.

Mamdani envisions that the low-cost deal — which he anounced during a Sunday celebration of his first 100 days in office -– will allow the grocery’s operator to pass on savings to hardscrabble New Yorkers reeling from foodstuff sticker shock, but neighboring grocer Abdul Shaher had doubts about its efficiency based on the exorbitant $30 million upfront cost.

“How can they manage something like that? A small supermarket?” said Shaher, who owns and manages Healthy Choice near La Marqueta, laughing with disbelief.

The article notes:

Opening five city-owned grocery stores in each borough was one of Mamdani’s marquee affordability promises during his successful run for mayor.

His proposal drew dire warnings of “Soviet”-style markets forcing private businesses to shutter, with billionaire owner John Catsimatidis threatening to close or sell his Gristedes chain if Mamdani was elected.

Other critics argued that municipal markets in other places – notably a barren city-owned grocery in Kansas City, Missouri – had struggled and closed.

An undaunted Mamdani pointed to toward several successful government-owned groceries, such as one in St. Paul, Kansas, a community of roughly 600 people.

New York City arguably has a similar effort already in effect: six public retail markets, including La Marqueta.

When the privately-owned grocery stores and markets leave New York City because they can’t compete with the city-owned grocery, that will be one more section of the tax base that New York City loses. At one point all businesses will leave the city due to the cost of doing business. How long will it take for the voters to wake up? Will they wake up before the city fails?

Undermining The American Republic

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America is a Representative Republic. We send people to Washington to represent us. The Electoral College gives less populated states a voice in presidential elections. Without the Electoral College, America would be governed by the people elected by New York, California, Massachusetts, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Of those states, only one is economically strong and relatively well-governed. Only one of those states has people moving to it and not out of it. The Electoral College protects us from taking the voice away from Americans in smaller states. But some people want us to be permanently governed by the people who ruined the states mentioned above.

On Tuesday, Townhall reported:

In another move to capture power, Virginia Democrats have signed the state onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement to award the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote even if the state would have otherwise granted its electoral votes to the other candidate.

So, Virginia doesn’t care how the residents of the state voted.

The article notes:

The legislation only comes into play in the event that the candidate who received the popular vote would not win the presidential election through the Electoral College. In such an event, the states who made up the compact would instead choose to act as unfaithful electors. To clarify: this new law blatantly disenfranchises Virginian citizens.

The article concludes:

They had not dreamed of a scenario in which Republicans could win the popular vote once again. 2024 was surely a hiccup, but ultimately didn’t factor into anything as Trump took the Electoral College as well. Instead, this is simply an attempt to prevent a Republican from laying claim to the presidency by winning the Electoral College while not receiving the popular vote.

Signatories currently make up 222 votes, with another 45 votes from states with outstanding attempts to enact the measure. Only 270 are needed for the popular vote to reign supreme, and with Democrats working tirelessly to allow illegals to vote in our elections, the danger is real.

The work to secure American elections continues to become more vital as Democrats across the country attempt to seize power.

This needs to be declared unconstitutional.

It’s Really All About Perspective

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Over the past few years, the Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association has hosted a number of critical thinking classes. It is always a good idea to brush up on critical thinking, particularly if you watch the mainstream media. At one of those classes we were shown the video below:

Sometimes we are so focused on one thing that we can’t see the whole picture. That is my feeling about recent statements by Pope Leo.

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines just war theory:

The four most important conditions are: (1) the war must be declared openly by a proper sovereign authority (e.g., the governing authority of the political community in question); (2) the war must have a just cause (e.g., defense of the common good or a response to grave injustice); (3) the warring state must have just intentions (i.e., it must wage the war for justice rather than for self-interest); and (4) the aim of the war must be the establishment of a just peace. Since the end of World War II it has become customary to add three other conditions: (1) there must be a reasonable chance of success; (2) force must be used as a last resort; and (3) the expected benefits of war must outweigh its anticipated costs.

I believe that the previous actions of the Iranian government combined with their quest for a nuclear weapon resulting an an attack by America and Israel meet the criteria for a just war. The Iranian government’s slaughter of their own people should also be considered. Evidently Pope Leo does not share this belief.

There are many things that Pope Leo could be commenting on at this moment–the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria, abortion in America, and the killing of Christians by Islamists. Somehow he is quiet on these things.

There are some other aspects of the Pope’s recent comments. Is he aware the God definitely answered the prayers of David in the Old Testament? Is he meddling in the American midterm elections? If so, why? The Democrat party stands for many things that are contrary to Catholic teaching. According to one of my sources, there is a money component to this related to the petrodollar and audits that may occur if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Keep your eyes open, and don’t forget how the Iranian people feel about the war–they want their country back!

When You Pull A Piece Of Yarn On A Sweater

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When you pull a piece of yarn on a sweater, you never know exactly what will happen next. You could get a short threat that you can simply weave back into the sweater to repair it or you could unravel the entire sweater. I think the second scenario is where we are with the impeachment of President Trump over his telephone call with Ukraine.

On Monday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about the transcripts of the testimony of Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG) Michael Atkinson before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) in September and October of 2019. This was not a classified session–only a closed-door session.

The article reports:

In fact, during the October 2019 deposition, Ranking Member Devin Nunes went out of his way to clarify the status of the hearing itself. Chairman Schiff reemphasized this was not part of the impeachment inquiry, simply a hearing to clarify questions from Republicans to ICIG Atkinson about the nature of the complaint created by CIA whistleblower Eric Ciaramella.

…This is interesting, because that means at the time of the hearing itself in 2019 any one of the members could have immediately gone to the microphones and discussed all of the information gained from within the questioning.   They didn’t.

Later on, Chairman Adam Schiff classified the Atkinson testimony in order to bury it.  The Lawfare impeachment crew, led by Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Mary McCord, Dan Goldman, Barry Berke, Stephen Castor and Norm Eisen also weaponized the “ongoing investigation” classification to keep the CIA/ICIG report hidden during the impeachment effort.

President Trump was not even allowed to see/review the classified IC IG information that was being used to impeach him.

Now, as you can see from the attendance above, John Ratcliffe was present for both Atkinson depositions.  Despite his immediate silence, we know John Ratcliffe was concerned about the content within ICIG Atkinson’s statements as he relayed in a series of questions during a public hearing December 9, 2019. {SEE HERE}.

The article asks the question:

DNI nominee John Ratcliffe was confirmed by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on May 21 and sworn in on May 26, 2020.  John Ratcliffe was now a constitutionally confirmed DNI with access to the full record and work product that led to the previous impeachment effort.

Why didn’t DNI John Ratcliffe release the ICIG investigative material and CIA whistleblower report?

Why did it take another six years and DNI Tulsi Gabbard to discover, dig out, declassify and release the material that was in the custodial review of DNI John Ratcliffe back in 2020?

Congressman Ratcliffe was in both Atkinson depositions during Sept/Oct 2019, and he knew the impeachment allegations were false.  He essentially called out the HPSCI Democrat staff in December of 2019. Congressman Ratcliffe became DNI in May 2020 and knew the entire background of the IC IG material that was now at his fingertips.

Ratcliffe knew President Trump was set up.

Why didn’t John Ratcliffe release the evidence of it in 2020?

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. There is something very rotten here. What is the statute of limitations on treason?

I Guess The Sanctions Weren’t Working

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On Sunday, The Conservative Treehouse posted the following headline:

That truly sums up the current situation with Iranian oil.

The article reports:

Oil and gas sales from Iran are under international sanction and not supposed to be taking place. However, oil and gas sales from Iran -violating the sanctions- have been taking place.

CENTCOM is announcing that the U.S. military will now ensure the oil and gas from Iran doesn’t move.

The U.S. will physically enforce the pre-existing global sanctions. A blockade begins tomorrow morning.

…Oil and gas from Kuwait will be allowed transit and passage.  Oil and gas from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar will also transit without issue.  However, oil or gas from Iran will be blocked.  China takes the biggest hit, again.

The target now is to cut off the Iranian money supply.

This blockade is happening against the little discussed backdrop of Dubai (UAE) targeting Iranian money changers.

The article quotes Iran International:

The arrest of dozens of IRGC-linked money changers in the United Arab Emirates is one of the most serious blows yet to Tehran’s sanctions-evasion network, laying bare how heavily the Islamic Republic has depended on Dubai as an economic lifeline.

Sources familiar with the matter told Iran International that UAE authorities detained dozens of money changers tied to financial entities linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, shut down associated companies and closed their offices.

…For years, Dubai has served as Iran’s main offshore financial artery, where oil proceeds, petrochemical revenues and rial conversions were turned into dollars, dirhams and euros beyond the reach of the country’s battered domestic banking system.

“This is going to be a real problem for Tehran because Dubai was an economic lung for the Iranian regime,” Jason Brodsky of United Against Nuclear Iran told Iran International.

I don’t think it was wise of the Iranian regime to bomb the UAE. Iran has successfully alienated all of its possible supporters in the region.

I Think Most Of Us Suspected This

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On Sunday, Just the News posted an article about newly released information concerning the 2019 impeachment of President Trump. The truth is coming out, and it saddens me to see the length one political party went to in order to hinder the Presidency of someone from the other party.

The article reports:

The U.S. intelligence watchdog developed derogatory evidence about the CIA analyst who prompted the 2019 Ukraine-focused impeachment against Donald Trump, including that he submitted false information in his whistleblower complaint, offered hearsay to support his allegations and had the “potential for bias,” according to newly declassified memos that were kept from Americans during the failed bid by Democrats to remove the president from office six years ago.

The documents declassified by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at the request of Just the News provide a starkly different portrait of the alleged whistleblower whose name and face were never shown to the public and whose lawyerly written letter accusing Trump of hijacking Ukraine policy for political gain was heralded by Democrats to launch impeachment proceedings.

Investigators for the Intelligence Community Inspector General documented several concerns about the Trump accuser’s political motives, noting he admitted he was a “registered Democrat” who had worked closely with Joe Biden on Ukraine issues and who disliked some of the conservative figures in the president’s orbit, the memos show.

The danger to the Biden family was that President Trump was going to reveal the corruption in Ukraine (which I believe is still going on).

The article concludes with some information about the Russia Hoax:

The 2016 ICA ((Intelligence Community Assessment)) was written at the direction of then-President Obama and largely overseen by Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe had pushed in December 2016 to include Christopher Steele’s debunked dossier in the 2016 ICA on alleged Russian meddling. The dossier was included in an annex to the assessment and was cited in the most highly-classified version of the ICA.

The House Intelligence Community report, declassified last year and the CIA review released last year, sharply criticized Brennan for allegedly joining with these anti-Trump forces in the FBI in pushing to include Steele’s baseless anti-Trump dossier in the ICA.

A declassified bombshell House Intelligence Committee report revealed that, despite repeated denials, the 2016 ICA on Russian election meddling pointed to the Steele Dossier when attempting to underpin the conclusion that Russian leader Vladimir Putin aspired to help Donald Trump win — with the ICA also allegedly ignoring evidence that the Russian leader may have favored (or at least fully expected) a Hillary Clinton victory instead.

Please follow the link and read the entire article. The people responsible for the impeachment and the Russia Hoax belong in jail.

Elections Have Consequences

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In September 2018, I posted the following video:

The video explains how the political left changed the State of Colorado from a red state to a solidly blue state. The residents of Colorado are now feeling the consequences of that change.

On Monday, PJ Media reported:

“20 years ago Colorado was a Red state and thriving,” the State Leadership Initiative posted late last week. “10 years ago liberals were writing pieces about how Colorado was the next Silicon Valley.” And now CBS News reports that “Colorado is losing businesses and jobs at an alarming rate.”

This was the hope, according to Denver-based 5280 magazine in 2020: “With another tech company setting up an office in Denver, the state could become a magnet for Silicon Valley firms and other prestigious businesses during the worst economic climate in nearly a century.”

Instead of Silicon Mountain, Colorado is quickly becoming “an economic backwater,” as SLI put it, “an omen for what happens when Red states go blue.”

It seems like only last week [It was just last week, Steve —Editor] I shared the schadenfreudelicious tale of how one TDS-suffering Delaware judge launched an exodus of big-name firms led by Elon Musk. Today, I must share similar news about my once-beloved home state of Colorado.

“The Colorado Chamber of Commerce has been sounding an alarm for years about excessive regulation,” CBS reported, and “the Chamber also said that companies are also relocating out-of-state.” According to the story, “since 2019, 98 companies have either left the state, expanded elsewhere, or scrapped plans to move here.” In the last four years, we’ve lost a total of 34 corporate headquarters, too. 

The most recent big name to leave is Palantir, the AI firm recently touted by President Donald Trump for its invaluable contributions to Operation Epic Fury. With basically zero fanfare, the company announced last week that it’s moved its HQ to Miami. 

Please follow the link and read the entire article. It includes a comparison of where Colorado was in 2018 before the Democrats took over and where it is now. Please watch the above video. This is the playbook–it can be used in any state.

Exactly What Was America Asking Of Iran?

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On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article about the failed negotiations with Iran. The article notes that there were six key items that America was asking for that were refused by Iran.

These are the six items:

1. Ending all uranium enrichment

2. Dismantling all major nuclear enrichment facilities

3. Allowing for the retrieval of highly enriched uranium

4. Accepting a broader peace, security, and de-escalation framework that includes regional allies

5. Ending funding for terrorist proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis

6. Fully opening the Strait of Hormuz, charging no tolls for passage

These are not unreasonable demands, but they are totally against Iran’s current and future plans. A nuclear Iran would have the perfect blackmail weapon to use against Europe and America. That is exactly what President Trump has avoided.

Breitbart reports:

Vance understood, upon entering the discussions, that there was potential for enormous distrust and misperception, given that the United States and Iran have had minimal interaction over the past 50 or so years, according to an official.

…While he left without a deal, Vance proposed what the official said was the best and final offer, which the vice president believes Iran should find acceptable.

Vance also found that Iran’s delegation had a fundamental misunderstanding of its lack of leverage when it entered the talks, per the official, who stressed that a deal cannot be reached as long as the Iranians believe they hold leverage they do not actually have. The misconception among Iranians about leverage factored into Vance leaving Pakistan after giving them the final offer, with the official noting that they need to understand the assumptions they had upon entering talks are not supported by realities on the ground.

Accepting this reality is key before they will be ready to entertain a serious offer, per the official.

The official stressed that it is up to the Iranians to accept the offer, and that Vance is hopeful that, after reflection in the days ahead, his counterparties will come to realize his final offer is in the best interest of both sides.

“We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We’ll see if the Iranians accept it,” Vance notably said Saturday night, Eastern time.

The official noted to Breitbart News that the U.S. national security team has developed a plan to break Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz after discussions with President Donald Trump.

An Idea That Is Long Overdue

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One of the problems with the amount of illegal immigration America has seen in recent years is the fact that people who are here illegally and have no right to work get paid outside the Social Security and tax systems and send much of their earnings back to their home country. This takes a serious amount of money out of the American economy.

On Sunday, Zero Hedge reported:

The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury proposed regulations on Friday regarding the new excise tax, established under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, on certain remittances made abroad.

“Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, a 1 percent remittance transfer tax applies to remittances sent from the United States to recipients in foreign countries when the sender provides cash, a money order, a cashier’s check, or other similar physical instrument to the remittance transfer provider,” the IRS said in an April 10 statement.

“The sender is liable for the tax, and remittance transfer providers are required to collect the remittance transfer tax from certain senders, make semimonthly deposits, and file quarterly returns with the IRS. If the remittance transfer provider does not collect the tax from the sender, the tax becomes a liability of the remittance transfer provider.”

The proposed regulations clarify how the remittance transfer tax would be applied.

According to the notice of the proposed rule, the remittance tax is applicable to all eligible transfers irrespective of whether the amount is actually disbursed to the designated recipient.

In case a remittance transfer expires or is canceled and the remittance transfer provider refunds the amount to the sender, the sender can recoup the tax by filing a claim for refund with the IRS.

The tax does not apply to any remittance transfer in which the funds come from a credit or debit card issued in the United States. It is also inapplicable if the funds being sent are withdrawn from an account held in a financial institution.

Any amount that is ultimately transferred to a designated recipient will be taxed, the notice clarified.

The rules affect remittance transfer providers, such as credit unions, banks, and money services businesses, as well as their agents.

The article notes:

Between 2019 and 2024, money transfers to domestic and foreign destinations via money services businesses increased from $1.3 to $4 trillion.

“Money transmitted to foreign destinations (remittance transfers) accounted for 9 to 25 percent of the total money transmissions, equaling $236 billion in 2019, growing to almost $1 trillion in 2021 and 2022, but decreasing to $365 billion in 2024,” the notice said.

“Over 2019–2024, annual remittance transfers to foreign destinations through [money service businesses] averaged $520 billion. The average individual money transfer size ranged from $290 to $740 over the same time period.”

In 2024, President Trump essentially closed the border. Please follow the link above to read the entire article. We are talking about a considerable sum of money.

(Past) Time To Leave The United Nations

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On Saturday, U.N. Watch posted an article about some of the members recently appointed to various United Nations human rights groups.

The article reports:

On Wednesday, the UN’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council nominated the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN’s Committee for Program and Coordination, which meets next month to shape policy on women’s rights, human rights, disarmament, and terrorism prevention. ECOSOC’s nomination is effectively decisive, as the UN General Assembly customarily rubber-stamps such nominations without a vote.

In addition, ECOSOC by acclamation elected China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan to the influential Committee on NGOs, which oversees the work, accreditation and UN access of thousands of human rights and civil society groups that enjoy consulative status at the world body.

The United States was the only ECOSOC member to object, saying that Iran, Cuba and Nicaragua were “unfit.”

UN Watch today called on all democratic ECOSOC member states — Canada, France, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, the UK, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, and Finland — to explain why they joined in the election of serial abusers of human rights to key UN bodies that oversee human rights.

“Appointing China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia to oversee the work of human rights activists is like putting Al Capone in charge of fighting organized crime,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s truly indefensible, and puts lives at risk.”

“As an organization accredited with special NGO consultative status at the United Nations, and which regularly gives a platform to dissidents from China, Cuba, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Nicaragua, we are gravely concerned that brutal dictatorships were elected to oversee our work and credentials — and it is scandalous that Western democracies put them there.”

“This means dictatorships will have a majority on the committee in order to deny United Nations accreditation to independent organizations that call out their human rights violations, and to accredit more fake front groups created by the regimes,” Neuer said.

This makes about as much sense as asking a fox to design a security system for a chicken coop. Remember, many of the men involved in the October 7th massacre in Israel were United Nations employees. I think it’s time to disband the organization.

Things That Work

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On Saturday, American Greatness posted an article about what has happened in Argentina since Javier Milei took office.

The article reports:

We were promised an absolute bloodbath.

During the 2023 election in Argentina, politicians, academics, journalists, and commentators lined up to denounce populist candidate Javier Milei and his plans for “shock therapy,” symbolized by the chainsaw he had taken to brandishing ominously on the campaign trail while shouting, “¡Viva la libertad, carajo!” (“Long live liberty, damn it!”)

Just days before Argentina went to the polls, more than a hundred economists, including superstar Thomas Piketty, published an open letter. They said a win for Milei would “inflict further devastation and social chaos” on a country that was already devastated and in chaos. His plans for dollarization and severe cuts to public spending would “increase already high levels of poverty and inequality and could result in significantly increased social tensions and conflict.”

The article reports what has actually happened:

More than two years after Milei became president, we now have a pretty clear idea of who was right and who was wrong.

This week, in response to new figures from Argentina’s statistics agency, The Washington Post declared, in an op-ed, “Free market Argentina proves capitalism is the answer to poverty.”

The new figures show Milei has reduced the country’s poverty rate from 53 percent to 28 percent—a massive reduction.

By drastically cutting state subsidies and laying off 60,000 public-sector workers, Argentina achieved its first-ever fiscal surplus in 123 years. Inflation collapsed from an insane 200 percent to 33 percent. Growth is at 4.4 percent and predicted to outpace the average rate in Latin America over the next two years.

There remain significant challenges, of course. A poverty rate of 28 percent and inflation at 33 percent are still bad and too high; they’ll need to be brought further under control. Milei also faces a “battle” over unemployment. With his cuts to public-sector jobs, the unemployment rate now sits at 7.5 percent. The Post is confident, though, that “market forces” and an “expanding private sector” will soak up the laid-off workers. Massive deregulation—Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation Federico Sturzenegger has cut more than 14,000 regulations so far—“will stoke private investment and growth.”

The Washington Post is right: “It is rare that we get to witness such a radical experiment in real time.” Milei has provided inspiration to insurgent right-wing parties across the Western world, including Reform and Restore in the U.K., both of which are looking to make serious cuts to government spending and also to break the overweening power of civil servants and bureaucrats. The enormously bloated public sector will be a major barrier to implementing a genuine right-wing agenda in the U.K.

We now know what works–let’s put it to work in America.

Saving America: Birthrate

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop,Ph.D. 

This is the fourth article I have written on things that need to be done if we are to ensure that America survives for our children and grandchildren as it has for us. It is a debt we must be willing to pay. This topic deals with the absolute requirement that our native population (those born legally to citizens) must reproduce itself to maintain our cultural and political traditions and values. Historically many if not most republics and democracies have failed because they did not pass on to the next generation their essential values and traditions. We must assume that children born to our patriotic citizens are essential to our country and that children born to illegals or visitors are much less likely to practice or value our essential beliefs and traditions. There are exceptions of course.

Let’s look at some facts. The birthrate for American women citizens has been dropping over the past several decades. The birthrate defined as the average number of children born per woman is now at 1.6. In 1960 the birthrate was 3.5. Just to maintain the same population of our country, the birthrate needs to be at least 2.3. A shrinking population will negatively impact the economy by not having enough workers and being unable to support an aging population. Another thing that affects the Americanization of children is whether they are born and raised in two parent families. It is a well-known fact that children raised without two parents are more likely to wind up in prison and less likely to lead a successful life. Again, we are moving in the wrong direction. In 1960 only 5% of all children born in the United States were born to unmarried mothers. Now it is 40%! The data shows that the number of children born to unmarried mothers is a function of race. In 2023, the percentage of children born to unmarried mothers was 12% for Asians, 27% for whites, 54% for Hispanics, and 70% for blacks. In addition, 70% of unmarried mothers were on Medicaid and 60% were on food stamps (SNAP program). It is clear that government programs are supporting and perhaps encouraging the birthing of children out of wedlock. Not good.

OK, now let’s look at the controversial so called “birthright citizenship.” No other country currently grants citizenship to every person born in their country regardless of parents’ citizenship status. None, zero, nada! President Trump has attempted to stop this absurdity by executive order, but like most sensible things he has done, his action has been immediately challenged by the left wing Democrats and has wound up in the Supreme Court. Sadly, with judges like John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, we cannot be sure how they will decide. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states “All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the U.S. and the state wherein they reside.” This amendment was passed in 1868 when the issue of illegal immigrants did not even exist since we were allowing unrestricted immigration. The amendment was meant to address the efforts of several Southern states to prevent recently freed blacks from obtaining all the privileges of citizenship–including voting. Did the drafters of the 14th amendment intend to allow birthright citizenship to all illegal immigrants and visitors? Not only no, but “Hell no!”

So, what should we do? First, encourage women citizens to have more children. Use tax incentives and programs to assist with childcare costs, or preferably, stay home and raise their own children at least until they are school age. Encourage businesses to offer more part time jobs. Average childcare costs in the U.S. are now at $13,000. per year. If Congress would do their job and terminate all welfare programs to illegals, we would save an estimated $150 billion per year and divert this to supporting our own children. Second, encourage people to marry younger and have more years of birthing children. In the 1960s the average man got married at age 23, now it is over 30. Living together and not being married has become the norm where it used to be strongly discouraged and morally unacceptable. Perhaps increased tax incentives to married couples could be considered. Third, since we apparently need workers for relatively menial jobs that are currently being filled by illegals, we could establish a well-controlled system of allowing temporary work visas for specific numbers of foreign workers that would not allow permanent residence in our country or birthright citizenship for their children or access to welfare programs.

If we do not solve this birthrate problem we will wind up like most European countries which are losing their cultural identity due to insufficient replacement of their populations with their own native-born children.

Taking Action In The Strait of Hormuz

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On Saturday, The Epoch Times posted an article about clearing mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

The article reports:

Two U.S. missile destroyers started clearing mines in the Strait of Hormuz on April 11 as peace talks kicked off between Washington and the Iranian regime, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed.
“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce,” CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement on Saturday.

The American ships included the USS Frank E. Peterson (DDG 121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112).

…Saturday’s confirmation about the mine clearing came hours after a United States government vessel was spotted entering the Strait of Hormuz, according to the ship-tracking intelligence platform Marinetraffic.com.

It’s not clear if this was related to CENTCOM’s mine-clearing mission.

As part of a series of posts on Saturday morning, Trump said countries are sending ships to the United States to “load up” with oil as the Iran War has heavily slowed down oil and gas operations in the Persian Gulf.

“We have more oil than the next two largest oil economies combined—and higher quality. We are waiting for you,” Trump wrote in a separate post on Saturday.
The updates from Trump came hours after Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, to attend in-person negotiations with Iranian leadership amid a fragile two-week ceasefire.

The article concludes:

The talks, moderated by Pakistani leadership, were set to begin at around 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, a senior White House official confirmed to The Epoch Times.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X in Persian that the country’s delegation will guard its interests “with all its might” and “engage in negotiations with courage.”

Iranian state media, Press TV, reported that Iranian negotiating teams will only extend their stay in Islamabad if they think progress can be made.

I have stated before–I am not optimistic. Any peace agreement that takes away Iran’s nuclear program or forces Iran to stop funding terrorism is not going to be agreed on. As long as whatever ruling forces in Iran that are left can hold on to power and fund terrorism, they will.

A Step In The Right Direction

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On Wednesday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the new anti-fraud task force headed by Vice-President J.D. Vance.

The article reports:

Vice President JD Vance’s new anti-fraud task force has identified nearly $6.3 billion in government contracts that are going to potentially fraudulent businesses, the Daily Caller learned early Wednesday.

The task force, alongside the General Services Administration (GSA), are beginning to send out letters to nearly 400 businesses with government contracts that they believe could be fraudulent, administration officials told the Caller. There were 895 contracts given to 392 businesses for a total of $6.3 billion, the officials explained, with $3 billion still left to be rewarded.

The businesses will have 30 days to prove to the task force that they have a physical address and are legitimate. The letters will come from the executive director of the anti-fraud task force Scott Brady and GSA Administrator Edward Forst, who one senior administration official said has been instrumental in helping identify the potential fraudulent contracts.

The article notes:

Vance and his new team convened for the first time March 27. Colin McDonald, the assistant attorney general for National Fraud Enforcement, was sworn in April 1.

…The vice president previously said the task force will also be investigating Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar for alleged immigration fraud.

“So we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America,” the vice president told conservative personality Benny Johnson in an interview. “And I talked to [White House deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller about this actually recently. We’re trying to look at what the remedies are.”

“That’s the thing that we’re trying to figure out is what are the legal remedies now that we know that she’s committed immigration fraud? How do you go after her? How do you investigate her? How do you actually do the thing? How do you build the case necessary to get some justice for the American people?” he added. “There’s a related issue, Benny, which is she has been at the center of a lot of the worst fraudsters in the Somali community.”

I wonder if we could balance the federal budget by eliminating fraud.

Removing Things American Drivers Hate

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On Wednesday, Red State posted an article about the automatic start-stop technology in vehicles installed during the Obama administration. The feature is annoying at best. The technology gives me flashbacks of my high school days when I was driving a 1954 Lincoln Capri with a carburetor problem. The best way to get the car to idle properly was to open up the hood and put a board in to warm it up while the board held something down and even then you couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t stall out when you stopped.

The article reports:

The Trump administration is eliminating Obama-era off-cycle credits that incentivized automakers to install automatic start-stop technology in vehicles, effectively killing what many drivers consider one of the most annoying features of newer models.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin highlighted the victory on Wednesday — building on the February repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding — while sharing a Wall Street Journal article highlighting drivers celebrating ‘the demise of the most hated feature in their cars.’

Zeldin mocked the technology as an Obama administration climate zealot “participation trophy.”

“The start/stop concept in vehicles is almost universally DESPISED. So, the Trump EPA has now REMOVED the ridiculous climate participation trophy the Obama Admin created to get this hated feature installed,” he wrote on X. “The incentives for manufacturers to make your car die at every red light and stop sign have now been ELIMINATED!”

The Journal reports that a significant percentage — 58 percent — of new gasoline non-hybrid cars had these universally despised systems installed by 2024.

Why were these systems installed?

In October 2012, the Obama EPA finalized the “2017 and Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards” rule. 

As part of that package, the agency created “off-cycle credits” — a regulatory incentive that allowed automakers to earn compliance points toward stricter GHG emissions standards by installing certain fuel-saving technologies. Automatic engine start-stop systems were explicitly eligible for these credits. 

Adoption by manufacturers rose sharply after those credits kicked in, from less than 1% of new gasoline non-hybrid models in 2012 to the aforementioned 58% in 2024.

Never mind that real-world fuel savings proved modest and inconsistent at best — many studies showed only marginal gains in typical driving, especially once frustrated owners simply turned the system off or dealt with the annoying restarts.

In a 2011 White House press release, the administration touted the upcoming fuel economy standards, saying they should “spur manufacturers to increasingly explore electric technologies such as start/stop, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles.”

They should have explored it, realized nobody liked it, and killed it with fire. 

Fortunately, Zeldin and the EPA are doing just that. Figuratively, of course.

No more forcing gimmicks on the public under the guise of environmental virtue.

Thank God my husband’s car has an easily accessible switch that turns this feature off. My current car is, thankfully, too old to have this feature!

The Laffer Curve At Work

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This is the Laffer Curve:

The Laffer Curve is being illustrated in America as blue states increase their taxes, their population leaves, and red states who are reducing their taxes are gaining population.

On Wednesday, Red State reported:

Blue states are pushing new taxes on high earners as billions in income and thousands of taxpayers move to red states.

In California, New York, Washington, and Michigan, lawmakers are advancing proposals and ballot efforts aimed at top earners. Washington is advancing a tax on income over $1 million, while California is pushing a tax on billionaire net worth. Other states are weighing similar plans, including taxes on residents who leave and widening the scope of income taxation.

IRS migration data from 2022-2023 shows California lost nearly $12 billion in taxable income in a single year, while New York lost $9.9 billion. Florida gained $20.5 billion, and Texas gained $5.5 billion as taxpayers moved and took their income with them.

California lost roughly 230,000 residents over the same period, while lower-tax states gained both population and income at the same time.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) acknowledged the shift, as RedState previously reported:

“Maybe the first step should be go down to Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded.”

These proposals assume high earners will stay and absorb higher rates. The migration data shows otherwise.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has warned about New York’s tax structure:

“New York City has much going for it… but it also has the highest city and state corporate taxes and the highest individual income taxes.” 

Business leaders have been warning about this shift for years, pointing to rising costs, regulatory pressure, and tax burdens that make long-term investment harder to justify in high-tax states compared to lower-cost alternatives, especially as relocation becomes easier for both individuals and corporations.

The article concludes:

Those taxpayers contribute more than income tax revenue. They invest, build companies, hire workers, and drive the economic activity that state budgets depend on. When they leave, the loss does not stay at the top. It spreads across the tax base.

That creates another problem. Budgets built around a shrinking group become harder to sustain, yet the response has often been to raise rates further or expand who gets taxed as the base narrows.

Higher rates aren’t capturing that revenue. They’re driving it out.

A smart businessman will operate his business in the place with the lowest overhead. Taxes are part of that overhead. Businessmen do not become successful by being stupid.

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied

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Most Americans have seen the video of Decarlos Brown Jr. stabbing Iryna Zarutska to death on the Charlotte, North Carolina, subway. Unfortunately, Brown has been found “incapable to proceed” on state murder charges.

On Wednesday, PJ Media reported:

The serial criminal who murdered Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte subway just for being white just received another break, as a hospital claimed he was incapable of standing trial and prosecutors have delayed his competency hearing by six months.

In an apparent effort to delay and thus perhaps permanently undermine justice for Iryna Zarutska’s killer, prosecutors have accepted the assessment from Central Regional Hospital, leaving a judge to decide whether to reject the assessment and proceed with the April 30 hearing to delay 180 days as the hospital and prosecutors recommend. The new claim that Decarlos Brown is “incapable to proceed” on state murder charges became public in a motion filed April 7, according to the New York Post.

Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr. already had 14 arrests on his record when he boarded a Charlotte subway train in August 2025 with violence on his mind. Brown did not know Iryna, who was also riding the subway and quietly minding her own business. But Brown suddenly and randomly approached Iryna and stabbed the young woman to death while most of the other passengers looked another way, refusing to intervene. Just before he got off the train, video of Brown shows him gloating to himself, “Got that white girl.” 

The article notes:

The new assessment that Brown is incompetent to stand trial could prevent trying him for the death penalty. From the New York Post:

Brown is also facing federal charges — and will remain in custody on that case, his lawyer Daniel Roberts said.

A judge must now determine whether to accept the report’s findings, and the case against him will likely be delayed until his capacity is determined to be “restored” by the court, the station reported…If a judge agrees Brown is incompetent to stand trial, state law mandates the charges be dismissed. However, if the judge issues the ruling without prejudice, state murder charges could be refiled if he ever regains his capacity to be tried.

It will be a serious miscarriage of justice if Brown is not put on trial for his crime. I understand the concept of innocent until proven guilty, but the video of the incident is pretty clear evidence of what happened. At any rate, he should never be able to walk the streets freely again.

Sometimes A Big Tent Is Nothing More Than A Site For A Brawl

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Establishment Republicans are always expressing their desire for a ‘big tent’ where everyone is welcome. Maybe they should consider who they are inviting in. Some of the Republicans are so offended by the fact that President Trump is President (he is not one of their club) that they are willing to throw the country to the wolves to get him out of office. We all understand that if the Democrats win Congress in the mid-term elections, President Trump will be impeached and all of the positive things that he has done for the average American will go away. Congress has not passed into law most of his Executive Orders, and those Orders will go away–energy independence will be one of them. But the Establishment Republicans don’t care about that, and they are working hard to make sure they lose the mid-term elections.

On Wednesday, The Federalist reported:

You almost have to admire how far some Republicans are willing to go to lose the 2026 midterms — and ultimately, the country.

Throughout their recent two-week vacation, several GOP lawmakers have been making the media rounds to tout “bipartisan” legislation they claim will finally solve America’s broken immigration system. There’s just one teensy-weensy important detail that somehow gets brushed aside: The bill would allow millions of illegal aliens to continue living in the United States.

Sponsored by Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and other lawmakers, the so-called DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act permits “certain long-term undocumented immigrants to earn legal status, without amnesty or a path to citizenship” so that foreign nationals who broke U.S. immigration law can have an “opportunity,” according to a Salazar press release. The measure would notably create a “Dignity Program,” which the Florida congresswoman’s office described as a “7-year earned legal status program allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work legally, with renewable status based on good conduct and restitution.”

The article notes:

Such a proposal isn’t just asinine because it cripples America’s sovereignty and long-term survival as a nation. It’s also incredibly moronic from a political standpoint.

Aside from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that they never effectively sold to voters, Republicans have virtually nothing to show for their congressional majorities. The Senate GOP still hasn’t passed the SAVE America Act, rogue judges continue to go unpunished, many of Trump’s executive orders haven’t been codified into law, and other conservative priorities remain untouched.

So, exactly what are voters — including those who identify as Republicans — supposed to vote for this fall? Amnesty? More GOP obstruction of the conservative policies they were promised but are now told aren’t possible with Republican majorities?

The Grand Old Party doesn’t have an answer — and it shows.

I don’t know if the Republicans are stupid or just want to lose.

A Very Shaky Cease Fire

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It was announced last night that Iran and the U.S. had reached a two-week cease fire agreement. Color me skeptical. There are two principles in Islam that need to be considered when negotiating with an Islamic state.

The first principle is hudna, defined as follows (source here):

Hudna (Arabic: هدنة, meaning “truce” or “armistice”) is a concept in Islamic jurisprudence denoting a temporary cessation of hostilities between warring parties, particularly in the context of jihad against non-Muslims, permitting a strategic pause for regrouping or consolidation of forces without implying permanent peace.[1][2] The term originates from the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah in 628 CE, a ten-year agreement between Prophet Muhammad and the Quraysh tribe of Mecca that suspended conflict but was terminated after two years when Muslim-allied forces exploited a violation by Quraysh allies to conquer Mecca, demonstrating hudna’s provisional nature.[3][4] In classical Islamic law, hudna differs from sulh (reconciliatory peace), as it is limited in duration—often up to ten years—and can be abrogated if the Muslim side regains superiority, reflecting a doctrine where ultimate expansion of Islamic rule supersedes enduring non-aggression with dar al-harb (house of war).[5][2] This framework has fueled controversies in contemporary conflicts, where groups like Hamas invoke hudna for long-term cease-fires without recognizing adversaries’ legitimacy, raising skepticism about its reliability for lasting resolution given historical precedents of tactical exploitation.[1][5] Scholarly analyses emphasize that while hudna is binding during its term under fiqh conditions, its impermanence stems from doctrinal priorities favoring jihad resumption when feasible, contrasting with Western conceptions of irrevocable treaties.[2][6]

The second principle is taqiyya, defined as follows (source here):

Taqiyya (Arabic: تَقِيَّة, romanized: taqiyya; lit. ‘prudence’ or ‘fear’) is a doctrinal principle in Islamic jurisprudence permitting the dissimulation or concealment of one’s religious beliefs, practices, or affiliations when facing persecution, mortal danger, or severe harm to oneself, family, or community.[1] [2] Originating from Quranic verses such as Ali Imran 3:28, which instructs believers to avoid close alliances with disbelievers unless fearing them while harboring true faith inwardly, and supported by prophetic hadiths, taqiyya emerged as a pragmatic response to early Muslim vulnerabilities under hostile regimes.[3] In Twelver Shia Islam, where it holds particular prominence due to centuries of minority status and targeted oppression by Sunni caliphates, taqiyya is elevated to a religious obligation and even a pillar of faith—reportedly comprising nine-tenths of it in some traditions—allowing verbal denial of faith or feigned conformity to avert annihilation.[4] [5] Sunni jurisprudence acknowledges analogous permissions under duress but applies them more restrictively, often framing broader dissimulation as hypocrisy or impermissible deception absent immediate threat.[6] [7] The concept’s application has fueled enduring controversies, particularly in assessments of Muslim-non-Muslim interactions, with critics alleging its doctrinal endorsement of lying enables strategic deceit beyond self-preservation, such as in proselytism, warfare, or modern geopolitical maneuvers, though primary juristic texts condition it strictly on necessity and prohibit gratuitous falsehoods.[8] [9] Empirical instances of taqiyya’s invocation are historically tied to survival under tyranny—e.g., early Shia Imams concealing esoteric teachings amid Abbasid inquisitions—but contemporary debates question its scope in asymmetric conflicts or diaspora settings, where verifiable abuses remain anecdotal rather than systematically documented, prompting scrutiny of interpretive elasticity in fatwas from both sects.[10] [11] Scholarly analyses, often from sectarian perspectives, highlight biases: Shia sources emphasize defensive utility, while Sunni critiques decry it as institutionalized duplicity, underscoring causal tensions in Islamic schisms where taqiyya facilitated doctrinal preservation at the cost of perceived authenticity.[12] [13]

Keeping those two principles in mind, I am not optimistic about any progress toward a peaceful Iran. The only hope for Iran is for the people in Iran to take their country back.

The Game Continues

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At least 80 percent of Americans support the SAVE America Act that requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and a picture id to vote. The Senate, however, does not seem to be able to pass the bill.

On Wednesday, The Epoch Times posted an article about one aspect of the bill that has not gotten a lot of attention. It’s something positive for the American people, but may explain why the Senate does not want to pass the bill.

The article reports:

The bill, which passed the House in February but got stuck in the Senate, would require new voter registrants to present proof of citizenship, such as a passport, a REAL ID, or birth certificate. It’s been much touted by Republicans as a necessary bulwark against voter fraud. Democrats have called it an attempt at voter suppression.

The bill would codify that the attorney general can sue officials that register voters without the citizenship check. Yet the question has remained what would happen if the attorney general refuses to enforce it.

The bill attempts to solve that issue by including a private right of action. It means that private citizens could also file lawsuits based on violations of the law.

“Private right of action is vital,” according to Hans von Spakovsky, election law expert and former member of the Federal Election Commission currently at the Advancing American Freedom think tank.

“Democrat administrations will refuse to enforce it at all, and particularly not against blue states. Private parties will be forced to do that,” he told The Epoch Times in a text message.

The caveat is the right to sue is written as an amendment of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, which says that only a person “aggrieved by a violation” can sue and only if the violation occurred within 30 days before a federal election. Otherwise, the person needs to first notify the top election official in the state and then sue only if the state fails to address the violation for some time—120 or 20 days, depending on how close to an election.

The games the Senate is playing are unacceptable. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has stated that he does not have enough Republican votes to support even a talking filibuster which would make the Democrats go on the record with their objections. If the Save America Act does not pass, every Senator currently serving in Congress should be voted out of office as soon as possible. The current Senate has chosen not to represent the wishes of the American voters.