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Josh Hawley Wants To Raise the Minimum Wage

Sen. Josh Hawley (R–Mo.) has introduced a bill to increase the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 an hour since 2008. Hawley wants it to be $15 an hour. Many of us thought that the minimum wage issue was settled, but here we are again.

This is freshman-level economics: If you introduce a price floor on labor, the supply of people willing to work at that wage will exceed the demand, resulting in unemployment. If an employer can either have three employees making $10 an hour or two at $15 an hour (and one on public assistance), which do you think he would choose? Politicians like Hawley seem to think companies will simply accept lower profit margins. But they won’t—they’ll raise prices, cut staff, or go out of business.

Since hardly anyone earns $7.25 an hour these days, the federal minimum wage doesn’t cause serious economic distortion. A $15 mandate, by contrast, would wreak havoc, especially in low-cost-of-living areas. A simple thought experiment would be to imagine what would happen if we had a $10,000-an-hour minimum wage. This would obviously eliminate most jobs. The same principle applies to smaller hikes, even if the effects would not be as drastic. If prosperity could be legislated, we would have done it long ago.

Hawley is an interesting mix: socially conservative, economically populist. He has supported tax hikes on the rich, expanding the power of unions, capping credit card interest rates, expanding Social Security, imposing tariffs, and imposing prescription drug price controls. He’s frequently on the same side as such left-wing figures as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.). In fact, he and Sanders, a self-described socialist, co-sponsored the bill to cap credit card interest rates.

What does it mean to be a Republican these days? What defines Republican economics? It used to be lower taxes or balanced budgets, but no longer. The Democrats are getting a lot of mileage out of being anti-tariffs, but that’s not because they are philosophically committed to free trade—most of them are reflexively opposing Trump. If a Democrat is elected in 2028, there’s a good chance they’ll maintain his tariffs. Voters don’t have many free market choices remaining.

We are a long way from 2005, when President George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary John Snow made an honest attempt at privatizing Social Security, or from 1998, when President Bill Clinton was pondering a bipartisan move along similar lines.

The camera loves Hawley; he’s handsome, articulate, and dangerous. When it comes to economics, there isn’t much daylight between him and the furthest-left factions of the Democratic Party. It is all about the packaging. If Hawley seems less crazy to the average voter than Warren and Bernie, that should worry us all.

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Minn. shooting suspect Vance Boelter ran bogus security company and faced ‘struggles’ after prolonged stint in Africa, roommate says

Suspected assassin Vance Boelter fronted a security firm that his best friend said never existed and experienced “struggles” after returning from a three-year trip to Africa months before he allegedly turned his gun on a pair of Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses.

Federal and state authorities are on the hunt for Boelter, 57, who allegedly disguised himself as a cop before executing former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday, just prior to shooting and seriously wounding state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in their house.

Authorities are closing in on Boelter after his car was found in a rural area near his home — and neighbors reported hearing gunshots.

Friends and roommates described the accused gunman as a quiet, intelligent family man who rarely discussed politics.

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Ukraine’s Infrastructure Damage Exceeds $175 Billion

More than three years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war has already inflicted over $175 billion in direct damage to the country’s buildings and infrastructure, according to the latest estimates from the World Bank.

As Statista’s Ann Fleck reports, this marks a $23 billion increase in damage compared to the previous year’s assessment.

You will find more infographics at Statista

The data comes from the fourth Ukraine Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA4), which covers the period from February 24, 2022, to December 31, 2024.

The World Bank’s findings highlight the toll of the war on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.

Residential buildings alone account for 33 percent of all direct damage, while transport infrastructure – including roads and railways – makes up another 21 percent.

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Trump Hints At ‘Possible’ US Entry Into War Amid Stepped-Up Israeli Daytime Attacks On Tehran

After Saturday reports widely said that Israel requested direct US military assistance in attacking Iranian nuclear sites, President Trump in fresh comments to ABC News has begun to change the White House tune a little, as he now says it’s ‘possible’ the US ‘could get involved’ in the Israel-Iran conflict.

He told ABC’s Rachel Scott that “it’s possible we could get involved” – however he emphasized that the US military is “not at this moment involved” in the conflict. He pivoted to calling for peaceful resolution, saying the US would be “open” to Russian President Vladimir Putin being a mediator in. “He is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it,” Trump said. Of course, he campaigned against new wars starting and said these major conflicts would not have happened if he was president.

Regional sources are reporting on Sunday the highest number of observed strikes in daylight in an around Tehran. Israel’s military says that over 80 sites were hit overnight, and has vowed to “hunt down” ballistic missile launchers in western Iran. Radar and anti-air defense batteries were also struck “as part of the IDF’s aerial superiority in Iranian airspace.”

The densely populated capital of around 15 million has seen hundreds of thousands leave the city for safety.

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Tehran Starts Drowning in Sewage After Israeli Missiles Strike Key Water Infrastructure

Shock video circulating online appears to show parts of Tehran drowning in waste after Israeli missiles struck water and sewage pipelines.

Footage shared on social media shows a street in the Iranian capital overflowing with water and waste product, creating a disgusting brown flow through the city.

The outbreak means that emergency services in Tehran are grappling with simultaneous challenges.

These include the impact of missile strikes, crumbling nuclear infrastructure, and now a public health nightmare as sewage seeps into streets.

The breakdown of potable water and sewage systems also risks triggering disease outbreaks and major social rest in an already volatile capital.

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California City Makes Homeless Eligible For Arrest If They Refuse 3 Offers Of Shelter

The San Jose City Council in Northern California voted June 10 to render homeless individuals, who refuse three offers of shelter, in violation of trespassing laws and able to be arrested.

The council members voted 9–2 in favor of amending the city’s encampment code of conduct with a “responsibility to shelter” provision.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat, introduced the proposal, which is among the stricter anti-encampment laws introduced since the Supreme Court in 2023 made it simpler for cities to ban homeless people from camping on public property. Mahan said that, if the city has enough shelter and interim housing, homeless people should be required to move into them.

Vice Mayor Pam Foley said getting people housed is the first step to getting them the help they need.

“We cannot expect to adequately treat mental illness, addiction, or unemployment effectively if someone is living outdoors,” Foley said during the City Council meeting. “Stable shelter, whether through interim housing, safe parking, or safe sleeping sites, not only connects people with critical services and job training, but ultimately paves the way toward permanent housing.”

Foley said the updated Code of Conduct demonstrates that San Jose is dedicated to reducing homelessness and restoring access to public spaces.

“When shelter becomes available, choosing not to fill those spaces only sets us back,” she said. “We must ensure that every opportunity to move people indoors is used to its fullest potential for both their sake and for the broader San Jose community’s well being.”

The city will not make arrests merely for refusing shelter, but, rather, for trespassing. The goal of the code of conduct revision is to enhance engagement with the homeless community.

Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who voted “no” on the proposal, fears the code of conduct revision could lead to a situation where the city has de facto criminalized homelessness, pointing out that the policy says somebody who simply declines shelter could be arrested. He noted that there are many reasons one may deny shelter, including unsafe shelter conditions or incompatibility.

“I think that by including arrest language in this policy, there could be unintended consequences,” he said at the city council meeting.

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Musk says he is providing Iran with Starlink as regime restricts internet

Elon Musk signaled late Friday night that he is providing Iranians with Starlink satellite internet after conservative analyst Mark Levin asked him to turn the service on in Iran during Israel‘s conflict with the country.

“The beams are on,” Musk said in a response to Levin’s request on X.

Levin’s initial post argued that if Starlink is turned on in the country, “Musk can put the final nail in the coffin of the Iranian regime.” Starlink is Musk’s satellite internet service.

Iran restricted internet access for millions of people following Israel’s strike on the country. Internet usage in the country heavily declined after the restrictions were issued, according to the internet monitoring group Netblocks. There hasn’t been a complete block of traffic, however, as Levin’s post suggested.

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Spy Satellite Uncovers Massive Stealth Flying Wing At Secretive Chinese Base

China is well aware that Western spy satellites, including those operated by the U.S., maintain constant overhead surveillance of high-value military assets, such as bases and research facilities. 

The deliberate exposure of a previously unseen, large, low-observable flying-wing HALE (High-Altitude Long-Endurance) unmanned aerial vehicle at the Malan test facility may not have been an accident. 

Instead, it appears to be a deliberate act of signaling by Beijing to the Trump administration, highlighting the rapid acceleration of China’s next-generation air combat capabilities at a time when the global security environment is rapidly deteriorating.

With the war in Ukraine ongoing and tensions in the Middle East escalating into a hot crisis, Beijing’s timing suggests an intent to assert technological parity and deterrence against the U.S. Broadly speaking, the world is entering a more dangerous and unstable era — a shift from a unipolar world with the U.S. in control to a bipolar geopolitical order, where volatility is expected to intensify throughout the 2030s.

The War Zone’s Tyler Rogoway cited new satellite spy images via Planet Labs that show the previously unseen HALE drone at a secretive test base near Malan in Xinjiang province. 

“Specifically, the craft was parked outside of a sprawling new facility that was built very recently to the east of the base, connected to it by a very long taxiway leading to a security gate,” Rogoway said.

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‘Not Illegal to Be Undocumented’: Watch Sunny Hostin Flip Out Over ‘Misinformation’

On Monday, co-hosts from “The View” criticized President Donald Trump for sending the National Guard to Los Angeles in order to help quell the rioting.

As noted by Hanna Panreck with Fox News, one co-host, Sara Haines, suggested that President Trump intentionally amplified the rioting to bolster his approval ratings, which she said are “ … dropping like rocks.”

Haines continued, saying, “But there’s one catch here, current support right now, though, is that 66 percent of the American public actually thinks it’s crime enough to be undocumented and therefore deported.”

Co-host Sunny Hostin questioned Haines, asking, “That it’s criminal to be undocumented?”

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin responded, “Even if it’s a civil offense.”

Referring back to Trump and the LA riots, Haines continued, “So what I’m saying is, a massive amount of this country actually agrees with, not how he’s doing it, but with what he’s doing.”

This prompted further discussion, with one co-host remarking, “So there’s misinformation out there.”

Haines said of President Trump, “I think the strategy here is, he’s leaning into a scene right now, creating a bigger thing, because it is the one thing that he remains supported in.”

This exchange visibly agitated co-host Sunny Hostin, who stuttered, “Well let’s, let’s let’s fix that right now, because it is not illegal to be undocumented.”

Turning to speak directly to the camera, Hostin said, “It is not a crime to be undocumented. People are not illegal … We need to put that information out there.”

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Leftist Protesters Attempting “Global March To Gaza” Get Beaten And Arrested In Egypt

There is perhaps no group more tiresome and naive than western progressives; constantly seeking to socially engineer not just their own nations, but nations on the other side of the world.  If they can’t do it through the monetary manipulation of subversive bureaucratic institutions like USAID, then they will try to do it directly with protests, marches and mobs.  The problem is, no one likes them and no one wants them around.  The tolerance they enjoy in Europe and the US does not exist in other countries and they don’t seem to get it.

Just as leftists ignorantly demand multiculturalism without understanding the inevitable and violent consequences of inviting the third world into the west, they also tend to invite themselves overseas into the backyards of civilizations that despise everything the political left supposedly stands for.

Thousands of activists, primarily from western countries, have descended on Egypt this week for a “Global March to Gaza,” a movement aiming to break the Israeli blockade that they argue has pushed the region to the brink of famine.  Some 4,000 volunteers from over 80 countries joined the protest, according to organizers.  This number is unconfirmed and footage of arriving protesters shows much smaller groups.

They planned to land in Cairo, take buses to the city of Arish in northern Sinai, and then march around 30 miles through the desert peninsula to the Egyptian side of the Gaza border at Rafah. Organizers said the activists would sleep in tents along the route and expected to arrive at the border on Friday.

The idea was clearly ill conceived from the beginning, with protesters believing they have the ability to march 30 miles across the Egyptian desert towards a war zone without interference, but the group never actually made it beyond Cairo.  Egyptian authorities detained at least 200 pro-Palestinian activists in Cairo on Thursday (with more reportedly being held).  Among the detainees were people from Australia, France, Morocco, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States.

Footage shows activists being beaten by an angry mob of Egyptians (possibly security forces) after they attempted a sit down protest and locked arms.

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