Month: July 2024

By Emma Arns of CampusReform

A professor at Carnegie Mellon University took to social media after the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump and suggested that the shooting was “staged,” suggesting that the shooter was part of a “stupid show.”

Uju Anya, an associate professor of second language acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University, made the comments just hours after the attempted assassination.

“People dying doesn’t make the attack any less staged. Someone who thought the attack was real could’ve killed others trying to prevent harm. Also, someone could’ve shot the shooter to hide the plot,” associate professor of second language acquisition, Uju Anya, tweeted.

“Politicians kill all the time and kill many more people to steal power,” she added. “And people died behind this farce. Actual people’s lives gone for them to stage this stupid show.”

Anya currently teaches and conducts research primarily “examining race, gender, sexual, and social class identities in new language learning through the experiences of African American students,” according to her website. 

“It was staged. Like a stupid Tubi movie set in the Bronx with palm trees in the background,” she added.

“They lie, and people die. That’s exactly what they do. That’s the record. Whatever ‘attack’ on him they set up to stoke his followers’ fears and sentiments, threat and persecution has now cost lives,” Anya said.

When an X user commented “someone is dead,” Anya responded, “a dead person can’t reveal the setup.”

Trump was grazed by a bullet Saturday at his Pennsylvania rally. The gunman was taken down by Trump’s Secret Service team, and Corey Comperatore, an attendee, was killed.

Anya considers herself an “antiracist” a “feminist” and an ally of the LGBT+ community, as referenced in her X account biography.

She is also the author of two books, “Racialized identities in second language learning” and “Racial equity on college campuses”.

Campus Reform has reached out to Anya and Carnegie Mellon University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

Authored by Mike Maharrey via Money Metals,

On July 16, a jury convicted Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on 16 counts, including wire fraud, bribery, and extortion.

According to the indictment, the senator and his wife took bribes, including 13 gold bars, from New Jersey businessmen with Egyptian ties. 

According to court documents, the Sen. and Mrs. Menendez accepted the gold, along with cash and an automobile from three prominent Egyptian businessmen in exchange for the senator’s influence. Menendez also allegedly provided “sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt,” as part of the bribery scheme. 

According to the indictment, a June 2022 raid at the couple’s New Jersey home found “over $480,000 in cash – much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe.” Police also found two 1-kg gold bars along with 11 1-ounce gold bars.

At the time of the indictment, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Menendez and his wife wielded “power and influence to protect and enrich the businessmen and benefit the government of Egypt.”

After the conviction, Williams said, “This case has always been about shocking levels of corruption.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes, including gold, cash, and a Mercedes-Benz. This wasn’t politics as usual; this was politics for profit.”

Menendez continues to maintain his innocence, saying he was “deeply disappointed” in the jury’s decision. 

“I have never violated my oath. I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent,” he said.

Menendez’s attorney claimed the cash and gold weren’t bribes but gifts to the couple in “lean times.” In his closing arguments, he asserted, “His actions were lawful, normal, and good for the country.”

Gold: A Solid Bribe

If you’re going to accept a bribe (and you shouldn’t) getting it in gold is the way to go.

According to the indictment, “Multiple gold bars provided by Daibes (one of the Egyptian businessmen) were found during the court-authorized June 2022 search of the couple’s home.” It also says the senator performed a web search for “how much is one kilo of gold worth.”

At the time of the indictment in June 2022, the spot price of gold averaged around $1,800 an ounce. Menendez received just over 81 ounces of gold in the bribery scheme. At the June 2022 price, it was worth over $145,800. 

Here’s the kicker – gold holds its value and even appreciates over time. Unlike the $480,000 in cash Menendez received, the gold is worth a lot more today than it was then.

Today, those gold bars are worth $200,475. That’s a 37.5 percent increase!

Meanwhile, the $480,000 in 2022 cash is only worth $452,755 today thanks to price inflation.

During the Republican Convention, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) quipped, “Inflation has gotten so bad, you can no longer bribe Democrat senators with cash alone. You have to use gold bars just so the bribes hold value.”

Gaetz has a point. If you’re going to take a bribe (don’t), get it in gold.

There are some other advantages of getting bribed in gold instead of dollars. It effectively packs a lot of dollars into a very small space. It’s easy to store and transport. It’s virtually impossible to destroy. Gold is also liquid. Menendez wouldn’t have had any problem selling his gold bars — if he had not gotten nailed by authorities.

One word of caution: if you accept gold as a bribe (don’t) you should make sure the gold is real. There are a lot of shady people out there, and let’s be honest, if someone is offering you a bribe, they’re probably shady. So, you want to be careful so you don’t get scammed.

Let me be clear: you really shouldn’t take bribes. But if you do (don’t), get it in gold. It will maintain its value over time even in this crazy world of inflation!

The White House has over the last several months imposed a series of sanctions against small Israeli settler groups accused of committing human rights abuses against Palestinians and of stealing land. These are so limited (largely amounting to restrictions on travel to the US) that they are largely seen as merely symbolic.

There are new reports in Israeli media saying the Biden administration is mulling a big next step: sanctioning top Israeli government ministers who are known to encourage and support radical settler groups in the West Bank.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Biden’s National Security Council held a meeting days ago to discuss strategies to thwart expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Among the plans reportedly discussed was the possibility of sanctions on hardline and outspoken Netanyahu coalition ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Not only have these two officials frequently made incendiary remarks seen as exacerbating the Gaza crisis, but they openly encourage Israelis to move in on Palestinian land.

The two actually oversee Israeli government policy in Judea and Samaria, where some of the most extreme settler groups have a significant presence.

Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have also regularly denounced the ‘weakness’ of Biden administration policy on the Gaza crisis in the wake of the Oct.7 terror attacks on southern Israel. 

The have both claimed that Biden is ‘helping Hamas’:

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated bluntly that the strong American opposition would only reinvigorate Israel’s drive to eliminate Hamas.

“We must continue this war until victory, despite, and to a certain extent precisely because of, the opposition of the administration Biden and the stopping of arms shipments,” he said in a statement. “We simply have no other choice that does not endanger our existence and security.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a firebrand who leads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, tweeted simply that “Hamas [loves] Biden.”

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expected in Washington next week, where he’ll address Congress and likely meet with President Biden, the US will more than likely not trigger a full-on diplomatic crisis with its closest regional ally by sanctioning its top ministers at this time.

Relations have already been tense of late…

Israeli PM lashes out at the US

The White House cancelled a high-level meeting with Israeli officials after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video accusing the US of withholding weapons to Israel. Senior advisers to US President Joe Biden are said to be… pic.twitter.com/SAEMe6HMqF

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) June 19, 2024

A possible future Trump administration would also surely reverse any possible sanctions. Trump’s team has vowed to given Israel whatever it needs to eradicate Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the ongoing Gaza operations.

By Cameron Arcand of The College Fix

A new Arizona State University study suggests that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in the United States military are ineffective.

The study done by the university’s Center for American Institutions argued that there is a emphasis on training new soldiers about social issues like “unconscious bias” and “intersectionality” in a way the center says runs contrary to typical American ideals. The study examined DEI plan’s in different sector of the military, including DEI office staffing and education at academies like West Point.

“The massive DEI bureaucracy, its training and its pseudo-scientific assessments are at best distractions that absorb valuable time and resources,” the executive summary states. “At worst they communicate the opposite of the military ethos: e.g. that individual demographic differences come before team and mission.”

Donald Critchlow, director of the center, wrote in the introduction it was focused on looking at the influence of Critical Race Theory in the United States Armed Forces training.

“The Commission on Civic Education in the Military began as a project to review civic education in the military. Our research team did not expect to find Critical Race Theory so embedded and pervasive. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs are found throughout the U.S. Armed Forces and our service academies,” Critchlow wrote. “This year long study documents just how pervasive these training programs are in our Armed Forces and Service Academies and that DEI extends well beyond just formal training programs in the military and service academies.”

“The Founders of our nation understood and feared a politicized military. History had shown them that a politicized army easily became the tool of tyranny. The Armed Forces of the United States has proudly upheld this long tradition of separating mission from politics,” he continued.

In terms of recommendations, the study suggests that DEI offices be completely scrapped, but said it may be politically unlikely for the time being.

“The surest way to eliminate the concerning trends we have identified, and the growth of race and sex-based scapegoating and stereotyping in the U.S. military, is to altogether end the DEI bureaucracy there,” the study states. “However, until such a time as the executive or legislative branches of the government choose to end the DEI bureaucracy in our federal agencies and military, we are left to advocate the pursuit of alternative avenues that may affect positive change despite existing policies.”

They also suggested the military prioritize civic education with a focus on “America’s commitment to freedom and opportunity.”

The study comes as some branches of the military continue to struggle with recruiting new service members.

By Jared Gould of Minding the Campus

American Education: Public, Popular, And Polarizing

We may never know what motivated Thomas Matthew Crooks to become Trump’s would-be assassin, but as we seek answers, we must recognize the role educators across the country have played in perpetuating a discourse that fuels animosity and normalizes political violence. Specifically, many educators have portrayed Trump as an existential threat to America. Moving forward, a narrative shift is essential.

Days before the attempted assassination, retired Seattle teacher Michael McSweeney penned an editorial in the The News Tribune, expressing concern that Trump may win the presidency again, issuing a dramatic “apology” to former students, admitting he had misled them about the U.S. government’s checks and balances. “I lied to you because I never could have imagined one person as evil and dangerous as Trump could ever be elected president,” McSweeney wrote, echoing the ideological stance many educators have taken since Trump rode the golden escalator.

In 2016, when I was a freshman history student at the University of Southern Mississippi, professor Dr. Tyler used her lecture on World War II to draw a comparison between Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan and Hitler’s rhetoric, alleging that Hitler said, “Make Germany Great Again.” How could impressionable students interpret this intellectually dishonest comparison as anything other than equating Trump with an evil dictator?

This sentiment wasn’t unique to my college in South Mississippi.

A year later, College Fix reported that University of Southern California professor Charles H.F. Davis defended controversial tweets that included obscenities directed at President Donald Trump and calls for the destruction of “whiteness” and the “white supremacist heterosexist patriarchy.” Davis, then an assistant professor and Chief Strategy Officer at the USC Race and Equity Center, argued that Trump’s rhetoric and policies embody oppressive systems. His Twitter background photo showed a black woman shooting a pig dressed in a police uniform.

Even after the horrific events of this past weekend, this rhetoric persists. 

Louise A. Kelly, an associate professor of exercise science at California Lutheran University, posted on Facebook her hope for another assassination attempt, even wishing to assassinate Trump herself. Stacey Patton, an associate professor at Morgan State University, wrote that she hoped the attempt was successful and argued that killing Trump would be justified because “Republicans are racist”—minorities did incredibly well under the Trump administration.  

The same rhetoric surfaced in Crooks’s neck of the woods. In 2019, a Pennsylvania middle school teacher had to apologize to parents after assigning homework in which students pretended to be refugees amid a scenario where President Trump was attempting to seize control of the country.

Without a doubt, this education has profoundly warped the minds of young people everywhere.

A young TikTok user recorded herself screaming into her phone, angry that Crooks missed. In an interview by Timecast News another seemingly young woman, who claimed to be born in the Soviet Union and has a hammer and sickle tattoo on her shoulder, says, “It’s a shame the person missed.” Others have recorded themselves summoning John Wilkes Booth, whose spirit might help a future assassin. 

This should surprise no one. Educators have contributed, in the most inappropriate ways, to our political discourse. If anything, the attempt on Trump’s life is a clear wake up call that educators must change their tone.

Amidst dangerous rhetoric and ideas, educators should uphold our republic’s principles. Political differences and passionate debates should not escalate to violence; instead, educators should inspire civil discourse, respectful disagreement, and peaceful solutions.

I hope the trail ahead is better. 

Former President Trump has again declared he will “bring peace” following a rare phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, which comes as world leaders prepare for a likely second Trump administration. 

Trump in a readout hailed it as a “very good phone call” wherein Zelensky congratulated him on a “very successful” Republican National Convention and becoming the Republican nominee for US President.

Zelensky during the call condemned the “heinous” assassination attempt which targeted Trump, slightly wounding his ear, and praised American unity in the aftermath.

Trump apparently pushed a theme of the urgency of negotiations to end the war with Russia in the call:

“I appreciate President Zelenskyy for reaching out because I, as your next President of the United States, will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families,” Trump wrote.

“Both sides will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence and paves a path forward to prosperity.”

Zelensky similarly shared on X that he wished the former president and Republican nominee “strength and absolute safety in the future.”

“I noted the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support for protecting our nation’s freedom and independence,” Zelensky said. “Ukraine will always be grateful to the United States for its help in strengthening our ability to resist Russian terror.”

He also said he agreed with Trump to at some point discuss “at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting.” In general, the Ukrainian side liked what it heard, and responded positively, per Politico:

A person close to Zelenskyy who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversation said it went “exceedingly well” and that Trump pledged to “achieve a just peace in Ukraine” if he wins back the White House.

Zelensky and his top officials within the last year have excoriated peace proposals and statements coming from Trump and his team, earlier strongly suggesting Trump is naive. The Ukrainian leader has more than once even invited Trump to come to his war-ravaged country in order to “see for himself” the nature of Russia’s war there.

NATO at the same time has sought to “Trump-proof” the alliance’s long-term funding commitments to Ukraine, on fears that Washington support could soon drastically pull back. Trump has in the past blamed Biden’s weak standing on the world stage for allowing the Russian invasion to happen in the first place.

While Joe Biden is decidedly ‘dug in‘ and isn’t going anywhere, Democrats, the party of ‘democracy is on the ballot,’ are plotting a ‘loophole’ if Biden refuses to step aside or drop out of the race.

During a Friday morning Zoom call with 50 delegates, DNC delegate Elaine Kamarck said the apparent “loophole” allowing for such rebellion if convention-goers say they can no longer vote for their pledged candidate in “good conscience” despite picking them in primaries and caucuses.

Kamarck, who has been on the DNC’s Rules Committee for decades, informed the 50 delegates on the call that “there’s no such thing as Joe Biden releasing his delegates. And Joe Biden gets this.”

“I don’t know why the rest of the press doesn’t get it,” she said. –NY Post

According to the DNC’s rules, “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”

Kamarack said that the rules previously mandated that delegates have to vote for whoever they’re pledged to, however that changed after the 1980 convention in which Ted Kennedy and then-President Jimmy Carter were battling for the iron throne. Unlike the Republican party, Democrats can revolt at any time.

Apparently “Our Democracy” has been reduced to “focus groups” when the elites don’t like the outcome of free and fair primary elections. https://t.co/wTuPQNr8nw pic.twitter.com/QhgVpaBTio

— Wuhan Blitz Primary Swan (@TheWuhanClan) July 20, 2024

Given that Biden won nearly all the pledged delegates in the primary, those delegates can say that Biden no longer “reflect[s] the sentiments of those who elected them,” and can dump him at will.

“See, we’ve never had a situation quite like this where the primaries were over. Very clear-cut winner. And yet something was discovered unclosed, whatever you want to call it, after the end of the primaries that caused people to severely doubt whether or not their nominee should proceed,” she said.

In 2016, Democrats rigged the super delegate process in their primary to stop Bernie Sanders.

In 2024, they wouldn’t allow debates. Biden won the primary.

Now Biden is being forced out before the convention. Rich donors will select a new candidate.

The party of democracy.

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) July 18, 2024

The Friday call was led by Kamarck on behalf of Delegates Are Democracy, a new group which launched last week to inform delegates of their options before the Aug. 19-22 convention in Chicago. The group claims they weren’t formed to force Biden out. (Can they try not lying about one thing for once?)

One anonymous delegate on the Zoom call asked how they should proceed in an open convention, to which Kamarck replied that it would be “tough” to decide.

Everyone calling on Joe Biden to *stop running* without also calling on him to resign the presidency is engaged in an absurd level of cynicism.

If you can’t run, you can’t serve.

He should resign now.

— JD Vance (@JDVance1) July 20, 2024

“I would start with the people who voted for you to become a delegate, see what they think and see how they think you should proceed. You probably won’t have polling. That’s very good. You may have to rely on sort of national polling,” she said.

Nothing says democracy like holding a fake primary and then having donors handpick a nominee behind closed doors.

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) July 18, 2024

Such a revolt on the convention floor would ‘amount to a political earthquake toppling the commander in chief.’ 

One anonymous Democrat pushed back on the Post‘s assertion that this was a loophole.

“It’s not a loophole! That’s the process. You can vote for whoever you want,” they said, adding “I think it’s almost inevitable he drops out.”

The scale of a possible revolt is unclear, with the source saying he could imagine “very few” actually joining in if Biden forges ahead — particularly if former House Speaker Nancy Pelsoi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former President Barack Obama set aside their private misgivings following Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate performance.

But even an unsuccessful revolt could hurt Biden going into the Nov. 5 election against former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

“If it’s 10 or 100 or 200, people in the media will say, ‘Oh my God, it’s a massive defection,’” he added. -NY Post

“We are so f–ked,” one senior congressional Democrat told The Post.

As Victor Davis Hanson notes on X:

Never in modern presidential history has a political party staged a veritable inside coup to remove their current president from his ongoing candidacy for his party’s nomination and reelection.

Stranger still, the very elites and grandees, who now are using every imaginable means of deposing Biden as their nominee, are the very public voices that just weeks ago insisted that candidate Biden was “sharp as a tack” and “fit as a fiddle.” And they damned any who thought otherwise!

They are also the identical operators whose machinations ensured that there would not be an open Democratic primary. They demonized the few on the Left who weakly challenged Biden in the primaries. Yet now they will select a replacement candidate who likely never received a single primary vote.

Note further: Biden’s impending forced abdication is not because he is non compos mentis.

Rather, the inside move is due to Biden’s disastrous debate exposure that confirmed his dementia could no longer be disguised by a conspiracy of leftist politicos and media.

But far more importantly, the impetus for removal is driven by the admission that Biden is headed for a climactic November defeat.

Were Biden now ahead in the polls by five points, these same backroom machinists would be insisting that he was still Pericles.

Yet now Biden is being un-personed and Trotskyized, as we prepare the new groupthink narrative of his likely surrogate—a soon to be praised eloquent, mellifluous, and articulate Cicero-Harris.

How f*cked is our country when an 84 year old woman is leading a coup against the 82 year old president for being too old? pic.twitter.com/mvMdoXlnk6

— Harrison Krank (@HarrisonKrank) July 18, 2024

please save democracy Joe by denying what the people want and instead folding to Obama and the top donors https://t.co/eARqcO5DX9 pic.twitter.com/yK8DDM7jMW

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 20, 2024

 

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

When you look at Joe Biden, you are also getting a visual picture of what is happening to our economy as a whole.  Both have been getting artificially propped up for a long time, both are now sick once again, and both are starting to decline very rapidly at this point.  There is lots of speculation that Joe Biden is not going to be able to make it much longer, and of course the exact same thing could be said about the U.S. economy.  Sadly, the truth is that the clock won’t stop ticking and time is not on the side of either one of them.

On Wednesday, we learned that Joe Biden has once again tested positive for COVID…

President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 following an event Wednesday in Las Vegas, the White House confirmed.

This is the third time the president has tested positive for the virus. And Biden is not alone: the positivity rates for COVID-19 have been increasing recently, as have visits to the emergency department and deaths.

Biden, 81, is vaccinated and boosted and is “experiencing mild symptoms,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

The White House is trying to make it sound like this isn’t a big deal, but Biden certainly didn’t look like he was just “experiencing mild symptoms” when he arrived in Delaware on Wednesday night…

The 81-year-old – whose political future is in jeopardy due to his age – walked very slowly off Air Force One, pausing multiple times.

He then put on a mask on inside the black SUV that carted him off to his beach house in Rehoboth.

Biden also appeared to need some assistance as he slowly nudged himself into the car before the motorcade pulled away.

Of course this is happening at a time when speculation that Biden could drop out of the race has reached a fever pitch.

Axios is reporting that some “top Democrats” believe that Biden could make an announcement “as soon as this weekend”…

Several top Democrats privately tell us the rising pressure of party congressional leaders and close friends will persuade President Biden to decide to drop out of the presidential race, as soon as this weekend.

Personally, I don’t know if Biden is ready to throw in the towel quite yet.

But we shall see what happens.

Meanwhile, more bad economic news continues to pour in.

For example, we are being told that home eviction filings are way up all over the nation…

Home evictions are on the rise in several major cities nationwide as Americans continue to grapple with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Eviction filings over the past year are up more than 15% compared with the period before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 10 cities across the country, according to the Eviction Lab, a research unit at Princeton University. The Eviction Lab tracks 10 states and 34 cities.

However, the problem is noticeably worse in five cities, where the eviction rate is at least 30% higher than it was before the pandemic started.

Whether someone is seeking to rent or buy, housing costs have soared into unprecedented territory.

And this is one of the biggest reasons why so many Americans are so deeply frustrated with the economy right now.

According to Fox Business, the “median monthly housing payment for homebuyers in swing states” has risen 92 percent since the last presidential election…

The cost of buying a house has surged in recent years, as high mortgage rates and rising home prices put ownership out of reach for many Americans.

The problem is even worse for the millions living in key battleground states that could determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

New findings from Redfin show the combination of steep mortgage rates and elevated home prices has pushed the median monthly housing payment for homebuyers in swing states to an all-time high of $2,161 – a 92% increase from the 2020 election.

This is going to have an enormous impact on how people vote, and that is not good news for the Democrats at all.

At the same time, banking industry problems continue to mount and local branches continue to be shut down at a staggering pace…

US banks closed 28 branches across the country in just one week in July.

Wells Fargo, Bank of America and US Bank each closed eight locations in the last week.

The remaining locations were closed by Greenville Fed, Chase and Schaumberg Bank & Trust, who each closed one branch.

Watch the banking industry, because I believe that this will eventually become a huge story during the months ahead.

Retailers are permanently shutting down lots of locations too.  In fact Stop & Shop just announced that they will be closing 32 grocery stores…

Stop & Shop is closing 32 underperforming grocery stores across the US northeast as part of the company’s efforts to improve its financial performance.

Shoppers are also being squeezed by higher prices at the grocery store, with food prices experiencing modest upticks last month, according to the newest inflation report.

“Stop & Shop has evaluated its overall store portfolio and made the difficult decision to close underperforming stores to create a healthy base for the future growth of our brand,” said the chain’s president Gordon Reid in a release.

Needless to say, that isn’t even worth comparing to what Walgreens is getting ready to do.

The plan is to shutter more than 2,000 Walgreens locations before it is all over, and that is really bad news for those that have come to depend upon that chain…

Shoppers, it may be time to find a new pharmacy. Walgreens is closing up to a quarter of its 8,600 stores within the United States.

Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth recently explained to the Wall Street Journal on June 27 that the closures would focus on locations that aren’t profitable, too close to each other or stores struggling with theft.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning, because vast hordes are businesses are likely to go belly up during the coming years.

According to one recent survey, almost half of our small businesses are convinced that they will not survive “the current economic climate, ongoing inflation or another four years of Biden administration policies”…

Nearly half of 80,000 small businesses surveyed say they won’t survive the current economic climate, ongoing inflation or another four years of Biden administration policies, according to the survey conducted by RedBalloon and Public Square.

Their May Freedom Economy Index found that small businesses “remain in survival mode,” with 40% delaying paying bills to manage cash flow and 70 percent putting staffing plans on hold, neither hiring nor reducing staff, “the highest reading … over the past year,” the report states.

We are in far more trouble than most people realize.

I have been documenting the ups and downs of our inevitable economic decline for more than a decade, and now we have reached a stage where that decline is threatening to become an avalanche.

So I would encourage you to brace yourself for very hard times, because it has become clear that this is a story that is not going to end well.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

In the latest indicator of a glaring lack of security surrounding the Pennsylvania rally where a bullet came within inches or less of killing former President Trump, sources familiar with the investigation say would-be assassin Thomas Crooks flew a drone over the event site just a few hours before he opened fire. 

As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Crooks used the overflight to record footage of the rally layout on the grounds of the Butler Farm Show. His research of the facility began soon after the Trump campaign announced the event on July 3. He registered to attend on July 7, and soon thereafter, made the roundtrip drive of more than two hours from his Bethel Park home to recon the site in person. 

According to data from the drone, Crooks — who’s said to have been highly intelligent and tech-savvy — flew it on a pre-programmed path, an official who’d been briefed on the investigation told the New York Times. The Secret Service typically bans drone flights at secured sites; NBC News reports it’s unclear if such a prohibition was imposed at the rally. Conversely, the Secret Service usually requests FAA permission to deploy drones in restricted airspace such as the Trump rally, but did not on this occasion, according to the Times. 

This new development in the investigation adds a troubling new entry to an already damning timeline on the day of the shooting, which killed spectator Corey Comperatore and wounded two others. Crooks was identified as a suspicious individual more than an hour before he opened fire from a rooftop only about 450 feet from Trump’s podium. At the time, he’d already been observed in possession of a range finder and carrying a duffel bag. Later, he was spotted on a rooftop 20 minutes before all hell broke loose. 

The drone was found in Crooks’ Hyundai Sonata. Parked near the event, it also contained two crude explosive devices, a bulletproof vest and several 30-round magazines for the rifle he used in the attack. The homemade bombs had a receiver comparable to what’s used to ignite fireworks from a distance, the Journal’s sources said. In the months leading up to the assassination attempt, Crooks received a number of packages shipped to his house marked “hazardous materials.” 

On the day before the rally, Crooks spent several hours shooting on a rifle range at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, of which he was a member. Sources have told Fox News that Crooks used a DPMS AR-15 chambered in 5.56mm. His father bought it in 2013. 

On his last morning on Earth, Crooks bought a ladder at Home Depot at 9:30am; investigators don’t think he ended up using it. In the afternoon, he bought 50 rounds of ammunition. 

Investigators are reportedly still uncertain about Crooks’ specific motivation. His internet search history indicates he’d not only examined Trump’s campaign schedule, but also the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which starts on Aug 19. He also sought images of both Trump and President Biden. Officials have told federal lawmakers that Crooks had a hatred of politicians in general, and didn’t have a distinct political profile or ideology of his own. 

What will be the next damning detail to drop? 

Authored by Dr. John Fernley via DailySceptic.org,

The peak electricity demand in Britain is in the winter when we need to heat our homes, offices, shops, warehouses, factories etc. But in the winter solar farms produce almost no electricity in Britain. This is because it is dark for around 16 hours a day and when the Sun does appear it is weak and usually hidden behind thick cloud. Solar energy may make sense in some countries, for example the countries of North Africa, but building solar farms in Britain is completely brainless.

The new Energy Secretary Ed Milliband has just given the green light to the biggest solar farm in the U.K. He claims that building the Sunnica solar farm in East Anglia will “cut bills for families”. As is often the case with politicians, the opposite is true. Because solar farms produce almost no electricity in the winter there will need to be back-up electricity generation. So essentially two electricity generation facilities will have to be built and operated, one for the summer and one for the winter. This will increase electricity bills for families not cut them.

Subsidies to companies operating solar farms and wind farms is one of the reasons electricity bills in Britain are already amongst the highest in the world. We pay five times as much for our electricity as China and twice as much as the USA. The pain that these high bills cause British families is of no concern to the small group of eco-zealots in Government and the TV news who peddle scare stories about global warming and tell half-truths about the cost of renewables. They want Britain to be a world leader in Net Zero and don’t care about the price the rest of us have to pay for this utterly pointless ambition. Britain is responsible for only 1% of global CO2 emissions so even if we achieved Net Zero tomorrow it would have no measurable impact on global temperatures.

Household electricity prices worldwide in December 2023, by select country (in U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour). Source: Statista

Meanwhile the big CO2 emitters, like China (30% of global CO2 emissions) and the USA (10% of global CO2 emissions), move far more slowly towards Net Zero.

They continue to build and operate fossil-fuel power stations. Unlike solar farms and wind farms, these power stations are both cheap and reliable, they work every hour of every day summer and winter.

This is why the electricity bills for Chinese and American families are so much lower than the bills for British families.