There is no middle class left because of this. What people call middle class is just lower class with worse purchasing power than anytime in the past. Inflation is covert taxation that lets governments spend even more recklessly. Boomers got overleveraged in homes they can’t sell while prices stay propped up. Gen Z can’t even touch a starter home. Argentina’s peso went worthless and the bread and circus distractions won’t save them forever. This is the boiling frog on steroids.
Author: HP McLovincraft
Seeker of rabbit holes. Pessimist. Libertine. Contrarian. Your huckleberry. Possibly true tales of sanity-blasting horror also known as abject reality. Prepare yourself. Veteran of a thousand psychic wars. I have seen the fnords. Deplatformed on Tumblr and Twitter.
Failing German Chancellor Merz ‘Warns’ Trump Administration To STAY OUT of European Elections
Whine as he may, MAGA will help restore Europe’s greatness.
Like so many other Euro-Globalist ‘leaders’, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hops from summit to summit, splashing his face on the news cycle, as much is said and little gets done.
Back home, no joy awaits him, as polls show that Merz is now the most unpopular politician in Germany, with a personal rating that has sunk to a historic low of 13% favorability.
He even has to manage the efforts by his own party to replace him with a younger leader.
So, prodded by the MSM, he tries to find some solace by making repeated statements against the US Donald J. Trump administration – it’s a cheap way to score a few points with the leftists.
Today (15), he is issuing a warning – yes, you read it right – against Trump and the MAGA movement to stay out of European elections.
Merz is reportedly pushing back against a new, million-dollar funding scheme from the US to support ‘free speech and religious liberty’ in Europe.
The problem is that the warning is not going to fly, because this outreach to Europe is part of the deepest levels of foreign policy, as it can be read clearly in the 2025 National Security Strategy:
“We want to support our allies in preserving the freedom and security of Europe, while restoring Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.”
There’s more:
“Protection of Core Rights and Liberties – The purpose of the American government is to secure the God-given natural rights of American citizens.
[…] In particular, the rights of free speech, freedom of religion and of conscience, and the right to choose and steer our common government are core rights that must never be infringed. Regarding countries that share, or say they share, these principles, the United States will advocate strongly that they be upheld in letter and spirit. We will oppose elite-driven, anti-democratic restrictions on core liberties in Europe, the Anglosphere, and the rest of the democratic world, especially among our allies.”
And finally: “We reject the disastrous “climate change” and “Net Zero” ideologies that have so greatly harmed Europe, threaten the United States, and subsidize our adversaries.”
Price Fixing at the Pump
Conservatives often criticize Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Zohran Mamdani for believing that government should direct private economic decisions. Yet when President Donald Trump recently warned gasoline retailers to lower their prices, or face “big problems,” he embraced a remarkably similar premise: that politicians should pressure private businesses to charge prices that the government considers acceptable.
According to a recent Fox News report, President Trump demanded that gasoline retailers immediately lower their prices, renewing his call for $2.50 gasoline. On Truth Social, he urged retailers to “DROP YOUR PRICE FOR OUR GREAT AMERICAN PEOPLE!” and warned that if they failed to do so, “big problems lie ahead.”
That matters because when politicians discuss gasoline prices, many Americans picture giant oil companies. In reality, roughly 95% of US gas stations are independently owned small businesses. Most do not buy gasoline directly from refiners. Instead, they purchase fuel through wholesale distributors, or “jobbers,” who deliver it to local stations. It’s these independent owners, not major oil companies, who set retail prices, based on local competition, taxes, operating costs, and, perhaps most importantly, the cost of replacing the fuel once their underground tanks are empty. Because gasoline profit margins are razor-thin, many stations rely more on convenience-store sales than on gasoline sales to remain profitable.
None of this means that government policy is irrelevant. President Trump is correct to criticize California’s role in high gasoline prices, for instance. California consistently has some of the highest gasoline prices in the nation, often $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon above the national average. Those higher prices reflect, in part, the state’s nation-leading gasoline excise tax (which climbed to 63.4¢ per gallon), state sales taxes, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, cap-and-trade programs, and unique fuel formulation requirements. All of these state-mandated policies increase the baseline expense of supplying gasoline.
Many economic conservatives and libertarians, myself included, have criticized Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and Mamdani for advocating a larger government role in directing private economic decisions. At the very least, their calls for greater government intervention are consistent with the philosophy they have long espoused. The same standard should apply when a Republican president threatens private businesses over the prices they voluntarily charge. Free-market principles should not depend on which political party holds political power.
The real question is simple: Is it the legitimate role of government to pressure or threaten private businesses over the prices they voluntarily charge for their own property?
Media Cheering a Deal That Puts Lebanon on the Chopping Block for Israel
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on June 26 triumphantly announced the “signing of the Trilateral Framework between Lebanon, Israel and the United States.” The document allegedly “builds a realistic path out of endless conflict” between Israel and Lebanon—“the inheritors of ancient civilizations that date back to the time of the Bible.”
According to Rubio:
This agreement establishes a clear and structured process to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty, disarm Hezbollah and dismantle its terrorist infrastructure, and enable Israel to return to its borders once that threat to its citizens is removed.
The framework also creates a cool-sounding “Military Coordination Group for Lebanon (MCG4L), facilitated by the United States.”
As should be immediately clear to anyone who has paid minimal attention to politics over the past 80 years, any US-brokered agreement between the two inheritors of ancient civilizations will automatically be designed to screw over Lebanon in favor of Israel—which has harbored designs on Lebanese territory from the get-go.
As Amnesty International noted, the agreement “betrays victims of war crimes in Lebanon” by essentially blocking their right to seek justice in international forums. It also signs off, Amnesty said, on the “prolonged and indefinite forced displacement of tens of thousands of residents of vast swathes of southern Lebanon occupied by Israeli forces.”
President Trump IMMEDIATELY Fires Democrat US Attorney Appointed by Panel of Rogue Judges After Dems Block Trump’s Nominee
President Trump immediately fired the Democrat US Attorney appointed by a panel of rogue district court judges in Washington state after Democrats blocked Trump’s nominee.
Democrat jurist Roger Rogoff was fired less than one hour after he was selected to replace Trump’s nominee.
The Western District of Washington district court chose Rogoff after Democrats blocked Trump’s choice Neil Floyd.
Neil Floyd is currently the First Assistant US Attorney in Seattle.
Roger Rogoff is now threatening legal action.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche weighed in later Wednesday.
Bloomberg Law reported:
The White House rapidly fired the new judicially appointed US attorney in Seattle, Roger Rogoff, setting up potentially the first legal battle over the executive branch’s termination authority for such prosecutors.
Rogoff, a veteran prosecutor and former Democrat-appointed state jurist, received a termination notice from the presidential personnel office Wednesday less than an hour after the Western District of Washington district court unanimously selected him as the Seattle area’s chief prosecutor, replacing the Trump administration’s term-expired pick.
The White House informed Rogoff in writing that, “The President of the United States has directed that I inform you that, pursuant to his authority under 28 U.S.C. 541(c) and Article II of the Constitution, you are hereby removed from the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington,” according to Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Covington.
In an interview shortly after he was fired, Rogoff said, “We’re considering all of our legal options.” He’s retained national firm HKM Employment Attorneys LLP.
“The president gets to choose his US attorney, but only with the advice and consent of the Senate,” added Rogoff, who was previously appointed by former Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) as a King County superior court judge and director of the state’s office of independent investigations. “We have a situation that is untenable, not constitutional, and not legal.”
Here’s why Fauci can’t chicken out and plead the ‘Fifth’ during upcoming hearing…
Anthony Fauci thinks Biden’s last-minute “autopen” pardon is his golden parachute.
But he could be very, very wrong.
In reality, that so-called pardon might turn out to be a pair of golden handcuffs instead.
Americans have sat back and watched Fauci play a lot of games. He’s dodged, danced, redefined words, split a lot of hairs, and acted like the rest of the country (and the world) was way too stupid to understand what really went down during the COVID circus. He became the face of the “pandemic” response, and according to the media and liberals, he was the patron saint of “trust the science.”
Who can forget these absurd candles?
As you likely know by now, Senator Rand Paul says Fauci will testify publicly before his committee on July 29th, and this time, the “fifth” escape hatch might not be so easy to open…
That’s because Biden gave Fauci that sweeping preemptive “autopen” pardon before leaving office. The pardon was supposed to protect him. But legally, it screws up Fauci’s ability to sit there, twiddle his thumbs, and plead the Fifth when the questions get uncomfortable.
A lot of Americans believe Fauci should’ve faced real legal consequences a long time ago for what he did to humanity. They look at COVID, the lockdowns, deaths, mandates, ruined businesses, lost years, and all the sketchy questions about Wuhan and the endless array of smug lectures from “experts,” and they don’t see a humble public servant who deserves yet another theatrical political hearing… they see a criminal.
A criminal who got protected.
And let’s be honest here, a blanket pardon doesn’t exactly scream “innocence,” does it? Normal people see something like that and ask the obvious question: if nobody did anything wrong, why did Biden’s autopen feel the need to pardon him before anyone was even charged with anything?
And again, that’s what makes this hearing interesting.
Because if Fauci can’t hide behind the Fifth, then he may be forced into a very ugly corner. He can tell the truth or risk lying to Congress (again). And if Republicans actually have the balls to press hard, follow up, and refuse to let him bluster his way through the hearing, this could become more than another useless Swamp show.
White House Officials Asked to Turn Over Phones in Investigation Into Air Force One Security Leak
Officials in the Trump White House have been asked to turn over their phones as part of the investigation into a leak about Air Force One security while the President was traveling in the Middle East last week.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Trump announced that the Air Force One jet he flew to Ankara, Turkey, for the NATO summit last week would be visiting a US base in the UK. He went on to fly on a different Air Force One plane when departing from Turkey on Wednesday night, prompting speculation of security concerns.
Trump had told reporters numerous times during the NATO summit that Iran is plotting to assassinate him and that he’s “number one” on their kill list, but he shrugged off security concerns when asked if that’s the reason why the new Air Force One plane was rerouted.
After flying out of Turkey and across the Middle East on the old jet, Trump boarded his newer luxury plane, donated to the US by Qatar, at Mildenhall Air Force Base in the UK. Trump was then pressed again about security concerns and why reporters had been directed to keep their window shades down while flying from Turkey to the UK, and he hilariously said, “I’m number one on their list before you, but if I go, you go.”
The President continued, “So, perhaps someday you want to change professions.”
Jack Smith team read messages between Trump officials, dozens of lawmakers of both parties: ‘Ran roughshod over the Constitution’
More than 40 members of Congress had their text messages viewed by former special counsel Jack Smith’s team amid a probe into President Trump, a move that Republicans say “ran roughshod over the Constitution.”
The Department of Justice released records to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday revealing that the special counsel’s office had accessed communications between Trump White House personnel and 44 lawmakers from both parties.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ); Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the current ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee; current Los Angeles mayor and former Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.); and former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), now the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, were just some of the new names whose messages were seen.
Grassley himself, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalies (R-La.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) were also targeted.
Asked during a December 2025 congressional deposition whether his team looked at “the content of text messages” during his twin probes into the 45th and 47th president, Smith answered, “No.”
Former Federal Reserve Adviser Sentenced to 38 Months in Prison After Lying About Sharing Restricted Information With Suspected Chinese Intelligence Operatives
Former Federal Reserve senior adviser John Harold Rogers, 64, was sentenced today to 38 months in federal prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Rogers was sentenced in connection with making false statements to federal investigators about sharing restricted Federal Reserve information with Chinese intelligence operatives.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported in detail when Rogers was arrested and indicted in late January 2025, the longtime Fed economist exploited his position of trust for years.
Rogers worked as a Senior Adviser in the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ Division of International Finance from 2010 until his retirement in 2021.
He had access to highly sensitive, non-public information, including proprietary economic data sets, deliberations on tariffs targeting China, briefing books for Fed governors, and critical insights into upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decisions and interest rate moves.
Prosecutors alleged that beginning as early as 2018, Rogers passed this information to co-conspirators tied to the People’s Republic of China’s intelligence and security apparatus.
These individuals posed as graduate students at a PRC university. They allegedly lured Rogers with gifts, an all-expenses-paid beach vacation, and a lucrative part-time “professor” position at Fudan University in Shanghai, for which he was paid approximately $450,000 in 2023 alone.
You WILL NOT BELIEVE What Is Happening In This TINY English Village
Residents of the small leafy Oxfordshire village of Piddington have delivered a thunderous rebuke to Westminster’s latest asylum experiment.
With roughly 180 adults casting ballots on July 4, 175 backed holding a referendum on breaking away from the United Kingdom in protest against plans to house up to 1,250 single adult male asylum seekers at an adjacent former Ministry of Defence Site.
That works out to a 96% yes vote in a community of around 370 people where decisions about their future are being made without them.
The move comes after the Home Office announced in late June it would convert the redundant military storage facility — sitting right between Piddington and Upper Arncott — into basic accommodation for single men aged 18 to 65.
Utility companies have already received instructions to prepare power, water and sewage connections, with work eyed for late August or early September. No detailed public proposal or full impact assessment has been published. Locals say the site was never built for this purpose and sits next to a children’s play area and reserve.
Piddington resident Ian Darby captured the frustration felt by many when he spoke out against the total lack of engagement from officials.
Hellbound and Down 
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