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Why NATO’s defense spending imbalance lasted for decades

For more than three decades, the U.S. carried the largest share of NATO’s military burden while many European allies spent far less on defense than Washington wanted.

The imbalance survived the Cold War, multiple U.S. administrations and repeated debates over burden sharing. Only in recent years — following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and renewed pressure from President Donald Trump — have many NATO members begun significantly increasing defense spending.

So why did the gap persist for so long?

Defense analysts say the answer lies in a combination of post-Cold War optimism, domestic political priorities and an American defense umbrella that convinced much of Europe it could safely spend less on defense without sacrificing its security.

“For much of the post–Cold War period, it is fair to say that Europeans underinvested in defense, partly because threats were low, and partly because a series of U.S. presidents did everything they could to convince Europeans that we would stay there forever,” Barry Posen, a professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Fox News Digital.

The collapse of the Soviet Union reinforced that mindset. 

With the primary threat NATO had been created to deter suddenly gone, governments across Europe moved to collect a so-called “peace dividend,” redirecting resources toward domestic priorities and away from their militaries.

Between 1992 and 1999, defense spending among European NATO members fell 22%, helping establish a pattern of underinvestment that would persist for decades even as the United States maintained troops in Europe and continued serving as NATO’s ultimate security backstop.

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EU & NATO Member State Bulgaria Tells American Military to Leave After Trump Says No To Visa-Free Travel Deal

Bulgaria’s new government has moved to terminate an arrangement that allows American military aircraft to use Sofia Airport for refueling and logistical operations, linking the decision to the Trump administration’s continued refusal to grant visa-free travel to Bulgarian citizens.

Prime Minister Rumen Radev, elected weeks ago in a landslide election, announced Friday that permission for American aircraft and personnel to remain at Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport would expire at the end of June, bringing an abrupt end to an agreement approved by the previous government earlier this year.

The decision marks one of the first major foreign-policy disputes between the newly elected Bulgarian government and the Trump administration.

Radev said he personally raised the issue of visa-free travel during a recent conversation with President Donald Trump but failed to secure a positive response.
“I called for the suspension of visas for Bulgarian citizens during my conversation with the American President, but I have not received a positive answer,” Radev said.

While acknowledging the complexity of immigration and regulatory procedures in the United States, the Bulgarian leader suggested that Sofia could not indefinitely continue accommodating American requests without progress on issues important to Bulgaria.

“We also have our priorities and we cannot respond positively to the request for long stays of aircraft and tankers at Sofia airport,” he added.

Under the extension approved by the Bulgarian government, the arrangement will remain in force only until June 30.

The temporary extension is intended to provide time for allied militaries to relocate aircraft and personnel to alternative facilities elsewhere in Europe.

“We’re extending the permission until the end of June so we can give time to our allies to reschedule and find another location,” Radev explained.

The agreement currently covers up to 15 American military aircraft, associated equipment, and as many as 500 personnel.

Aircraft operating from Sofia have included Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft, Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport planes, and Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy-lift cargo aircraft.

Bulgarian officials, for their part, have emphasized repeatedly that the aircraft were not intended for any kind of combat missions.

Former caretaker Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov previously stated that the deployments were primarily logistical in nature and designed to support allied activities.

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The Democrat Establishment Is Starting To Worry About Spencer Pratt

The last person California Democrats expected to keep them up at night is Spencer Pratt. Yet here we are.

The former reality television personality-turned-independent mayoral candidate has spent the past several weeks doing something that Los Angeles’s political establishment convinced itself was impossible: making incumbent Mayor Karen Bass look vulnerable.

Conventional wisdom held that a candidate like Pratt, a former television personality with no governing experience, running as an independent in a deep-blue city, had no realistic path to victory. The conventional wisdom was wrong, or at a minimum, it failed to account for how much patience voters had actually lost with the Democratic Party’s incompetence.

At some point, even reliable Democratic constituencies reach a limit for how much they can tolerate. Bass may be finding out precisely where that limit sits.

Between April 19 and May 15, Pratt’s campaign has raised roughly $2.7 million. Over that same stretch, Bass pulled in just $282,000. Bass has been raising money since 2024, and her total haul since then is approximately $2.8 million. Pratt nearly matched it in less than a month.

The two candidates are now separated by less than $100,000 in cash on hand, with Pratt sitting on roughly $1.42 million and Bass on approximately $1.32 million.

The money story alone would be enough to rattle the machine. The polls are another story. Pratt has been performing well in the polls, with Bass only leading by single digits in recent surveys, which means Pratt could advance to a runoff with Bass.

In a city where Democratic registration is so overwhelming that Republican candidates don’t bother showing up on general election ballots, this is a huge red flag for the Bass campaign.

The Democrat establishment has heard the message loud and clear and is starting to panic. On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an endorsement of Bass – just five days before the primary.

“The work Karen Bass is doing in Los Angeles is making our entire state stronger, with an 18% decline in homelessness while it grew nationally, historic drops in violent crime, boosting film production in L.A., and protecting our communities against ICE. She has my full support for reelection,” Newsom said in a statement.

Whatever the merits of the endorsement’s substance, its timing speaks for itself. It reeks of desperation.

If no candidate receives a majority on the June 2nd election, a runoff election will be held on November 3rd. Newsom, making an endorsement in the race’s final days, is clearly hoping to boost Bass and avoid a runoff.

Pratt was unimpressed by Newsom’s 11th-hour endorsement. He responded by calling Newsom and Bass “alleged criminal partners,” tying them together through their shared record on the catastrophic January wildfires and the city’s homelessness crisis.

“It’s not shocking because their alleged criminal partners, not only did they work together in their negligence and burning down 7,000 houses and 12 people alive, but they’re both complicit in laundering, what, 24 billion dollars to actually increase homelessness,” Pratt said.

He went further, attacking the homelessness statistics Newsom cited and accusing both Newsom and Bass of making them up.

“Those are not real numbers,” Pratt insisted. “Anybody with eyeballs in the state of California or Los Angeles knows that there has not been a reduction in one homeless person. Actually, there’s been an increase of naked drug addict zombies in front of every kid’s playground, every kid’s school, every coffee shop.”

“They both should be in jail together,” he added.

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Trump shows renderings of drone port planned for WH ballroom, blasts lawsuit against construction

President Donald Trump railed against the lawsuit directed at the planned White House ballroom, saying its security features “will safeguard our Nation’s Capital.”

In a Sunday Truth Social post, Trump published renderings of the proposed drone port that would be included with the ballroom construction, noting the need for enhanced security in light of modern weapons capabilities.

“The DronePort at the White House Ballroom will be, perhaps, the most sophisticated anywhere in the World! It will safeguard our Nation’s Capital, Washington, D.C., long into the future,” Trump said.

He went on to criticize the federal judge, Richard Leon, who issued an April amended preliminary injunction halting above-ground construction of the White House. According to the court document, an appellate court stayed the injunction a day later, allowing construction to resume as the case continues through the legal system. Oral arguments are scheduled for June 5th.

“Judge Richard Leon should stop playing games with America’s Security! If anything happens, he will be held responsible for the Death and Destruction caused to our Country,” the president said.

“He has already created enough problems by allowing ‘Top Secret’ information to be released and exposed based on a ridiculous lawsuit started by a highly litigious woman (serial plaintiff!) whose ‘strolling,’ in her opinion, will be disturbed by the new desperately needed structure — In any event, a woman who has absolutely no STANDING!” he continued.

He emphasized the weapons technology available in the modern-day environment, stating that more advanced tools are needed.

“With the advent of highly sophisticated, and powerful, modern day weaponry, we can no longer defend Washington, D.C., with rifles and pistols, alone. This ridiculous lawsuit must be dismissed, IMMEDIATELY!” he added.

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THE HITS KEEP COMING: Graham Platner Has an ACTIVE Account on “Predator’s Paradise” Messaging App with a “Huge Child Exploitation Problem”

Yet another horrific revelation has unfolded regarding far-left Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, and it might be the most shocking yet.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, informed campaign staff a year ago that her husband had exchanged sexually explicit text messages with at least a dozen women.

The Platner campaign, though, ultimately dismissed the texts as a private matter and moved on.

Now, the news gets worse. The Daily Wire has revealed on Saturday that Platner is a registered user on Kik, an anonymous messaging app.

Platner’s Kik account uses the username “phustle0331,” which is similar to his Instagram handle, Phustle0331, and to the username of his Reddit account.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation describes Kik as a “predator’s paradise,” due to features that allow minors to join the app and speak with adults.

Approximately 70% of the app’s users are between the ages of 13 and 24. Even more disturbingly, the app does not require official age verification.

The Daily Wire shared evidence that Kik enables adult users to not only target innocent women but also children.

A true sexual predator’s paradise, indeed.

From The Daily Wire:

A Forbes investigation found that Kik had a “huge child exploitation problem,” while the BBC found that the app was at the center of over 1,100 child sexual abuse cases in the United Kingdom between 2013 and 2018.

But even among consenting adult users, Kik is no ordinary messenger. The platform has been described as “the app with the most severe sexual content.” Kik offers sexually explicit live chats with women, and is often found at the center of “sexploitation” cases, wherein predators coax someone to send nude photos, and then use the images for blackmail, the New York Times reported in 2016.

That report — released four months before Platner created his Kik account — chronicles a litany of heinous acts perpetrated by predators on the app, including a man who used the app to distribute child pornography, several who sent and solicited sexually explicit messages from minors, and one instance where a man attempted to kidnap a 14-year-old girl.

Kik was also where 13-year-old Nicole Madison Lowell chatted with two Virginia Tech students who kidnapped and killed her.

Interestingly, Platner joined Kik in 2016 when it had been under fire for being a hotbed for child pornography, kidnapping, and more wicked sexual activities.

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Seattle To Declare “State Of Emergency” To Protect Transgender Refugees?

The ultimate claim to victimhood is the claim that a group of people are “refugees” from mass persecution or “genocide.”  The political left covets this victim status more than anything else because, within first world liberal societies, refugees have immediate political capital and access to easy money.  Within every leftist narrative there is an agenda for power and a life without adult responsibility.

It is perhaps ironic that thousands of progressive activists and LGBT advocates are leaving red states over imaginary oppression after they spent years attacking conservatives for escaping blue states over very real medical tyranny.  At least conservatives never called themselves “refugees.” 

Leftists specifically believe their rights are being violated in red states because conservative governments won’t allow them to mutilate their children with hormone therapy and sex change surgeries.  This nightmare trend, which is increasingly proven by science to have a detrimental effect on the minds and health of the people who undergo gender therapies, is still heavily protected in leftist havens like Seattle.

For reasonable and sane people still living in the Emerald City, relocation should be a top priority because the golden hordes are making the great northwest their home base.  Seattle’s new “democratic socialist” (communist) mayor Katie Wilson is more than happy to oblige the mentally ill mob clamoring for access.  The problem is, as the crazies move in, all the businesses are moving out.

This conundrum leaves Wilson’s poorly managed city in a financial bind.  New transgender resident are calling themselves “refugees” and demanding access to tax based subsidies in order to survive.  One would think they could simply get jobs like everyone else.  But, much like third world migrants, everywhere these people go they are always jobless and in dire need of handouts. 

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US Treasury Sanctions GAESA: The Cuban Military Conglomerate That Controls the Economy and Thrives on Donations

Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA) as a “Cuban military-controlled financial conglomerate that steals millions in aid for the Cuban people at the behest of the regime.” The United States sanctioned GAESA on May 7, 2026, under Executive Order 14404, signed by President Trump on May 1. The State Department issued the designations while the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administered them.

Founded by Raúl Castro, GAESA is the economic arm of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and one of the country’s most powerful institutions. Despite existing within a nominally socialist state, it operates under an opaque structure resembling a capitalist corporation, with subsidiaries incorporated in Panama, Cyprus, and Liberia to bypass U.S. sanctions restrictions.

It controls an estimated 40 percent or more of the island’s economy, with gross profits representing close to 37 percent of Cuba’s GDP, total revenues 3.2 times greater than the annual Cuban state budget, and exports accounting for roughly 34 percent of the island’s total. The Food Monitor Program, in a formal complaint to the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, described GAESA as “a state within a state,” accusing it of worsening hunger and malnutrition through monopolistic control and financial opacity.

GAESA dominates Cuba’s most strategic and profitable sectors through a web of subsidiaries: tourism through Gaviota, retail and wholesale trade through CIMEX and TRD Caribe, and finance through RAFIN S.A. and Banco Financiero Internacional. It also controls remittances, logistics, port operations, including the Port of Mariel, construction, transportation, and foreign trade.

Its former chief, Gen. Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, the former son-in-law of Raúl Castro, was separately sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, which froze his U.S.-jurisdiction assets and prohibited American persons from dealing with him.

Leaked internal accounting documents reported by the Miami Herald showed GAESA held approximately $18 billion in current assets as of March 2024, of which $14.5 billion sat in undisclosed overseas bank accounts, even as Cuba’s broader economy collapsed. The U.S. State Department stated in its May 2026 sanctions announcement that GAESA controls up to $20 billion in illicit assets funneled into hidden overseas accounts, and that GAESA’s executive president Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera is personally responsible for managing those assets internationally.

Those funds exist entirely outside the Cuban government’s budget. In 2024, Cuba’s State Comptroller was dismissed after 14 years in office. The dismissal came after she publicly admitted that she lacked access to GAESA’s financial accounts. The conglomerate is entirely exempt from government audit. “There’s the Cuban government and they have a budget,” Rubio told reporters, “and then there’s this private company that has more money than the government does.

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The Market’s Biggest Buyer May Be Disappearing

Yesterday, as part of laying out the two paths I can see the economy taking, I wrote that beneath the surface, the American consumer is tapped out. The average consumer – AKA the “retail investor” – has been a key in driving the stock market higher the past half decade.

This morning, I noticed two reports that came out yesterday that add to the conclusion that this “retail investor” looks increasingly broke. 

Yesterday The Wall Street Journal highlighted how rising prices and the highest interest rates in decades have pushed even relatively high-income households into financial distress. One example was a hospital operations director earning nearly $200,000 annually who accumulated $15,000 in credit card debt at a 26% interest rate. Despite making the minimum payments, the balance barely moved.

And the broader data confirms this isn’t an isolated story.

As I’ve noted, the percentage of credit card balances that are 90+ days delinquent climbed to 13.1% in the first quarter, the highest level in 15 years and the worst reading since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Total credit card balances reached a record $1.25 trillion for a first quarter, while average credit card interest rates have surged from 14.6% in early 2022 to roughly 21% today.

Delinquency rates have risen across low-, middle-, and high-income households alike. In other words, this is no longer just a lower-income problem. The financial strain is moving up the income ladder, which fits perfectly with what I’ve been writing about for months.

Student loan delinquencies have also exploded higher as repayment obligations returned. Credit card delinquencies have surged to post-financial-crisis highs.

Auto loan defaults, particularly among subprime borrowers, are sitting near multi-decade extremes. New data from Experian shows that nearly 19% of new vehicle loans now carry monthly payments of at least $1,000, up from 17.4% a year ago and more than triple the 5.4% level seen just five years ago.

Contrary to popular belief, these aren’t primarily luxury vehicles, either. Roughly three-quarters of the loans are tied to mainstream models, led by popular pickup trucks like the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram 1500.

The surge reflects years of rising vehicle prices and larger loan balances, with the average amount financed reaching a record $43,952 and the average monthly payment climbing to an all-time high of $770. While delinquency rates remain below 2018 levels overall, both 30- and 60-day late payments are increasing, with the most significant stress emerging among subprime borrowers, who face the highest risk of default as elevated rates and larger loan balances continue to strain household finances.

Meanwhile, as noted yesterday, the personal savings rate has collapsed back toward historic lows as households burn through what little financial cushion remains.

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Brutal Media Split Screen Emerges as New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill Begs Anti-ICE Rioters to “Bring the Temperature Down” and Demands Closure of ICE Facility 

Fox News has gone viral after utilizing a devastating split screen regarding New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherill and the ongoing riots in Newark, which will remind some of the images from the George Floyd riots back in the Summer of 2020.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, the protests outside the ICE detention facility in Newark have spiraled into chaos.

Demonstrators have confronted law enforcement, federal officers have been targeted, journalists have faced hostility, and authorities have been forced to respond as crowds escalated near the facility.

The Gateway Pundit also revealed that independent journalist Nick Sortor, who blew the lid off years of taxpayers’ abuse at the hands of Somali fraudsters, infiltrated an Antifa camp at the Newark, New Jersey, ICE protests.

As he moved through the camp, he found tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment, food, and even riot gear. Hot meals are delivered every hour. Clearly, there is a massive, shadowy infrastructure behind the movement that is providing funding.

When one combines this with the open encouragement of Democrat politicians to bully ICE agents, it’s no wonder that Antifa is so emboldened.

During a Saturday press conference, Sherill begged the Antifa protesters to “bring the temperature down” and to protest “peacefully.”

Then, she vowed to work toward “better conditions at Delaney Hall” until it was closed for good.

But while Sherill was ranting, a Fox News producer put up a devastating split screen showing exactly what the New Jersey Governor was presiding over.

In the split screen, one can see agitators getting violent with law enforcement officers and throwing projectiles.

Smoke bombs are also deployed.

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Outrage Mounts After Trans Athlete AB Hernandez Wins California Girls Track Championship

A controversial transgender athlete in California has caused another backlash after winning a girls’ track championship on Saturday.

AB Hernandez, a boy who identifies as a girl, won a medal at the CIF State Track & Field Championships being held at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School in Clovis, California, this weekend, according to the New York Post.

Hernandez, who competes for Jurupa Valley High School, was participating in the girls’ long jump. But this is not the athlete’s first time stirring controversy. All year, Hernandez has been at the center of protests by parents who want to protect girls’ sports from the incursion by boys identifying as girls.

Even as Hernandez was winning events inside, parents had gathered outside the venue to protest transgender athletes in girls’ sports.

Parents held signs blasting the ruination of girls’ sports. Signs included, “No boys. No bias. Just fairness, and “Save Girl’s Sports.”

Parents also accused event officials of allowing boys to compete and said males winning means the events have been “stolen from our daughters.”

Hernandez did not win the long jump event, but did come in third with a mark of 20 feet, 2 1/4 inches.

Ellie McCuskey-Hay of St. Ignatius High School and Gianna Gonzalez of Moorpark High School, who each jumped 20 feet, 3 1/2 inches, shared first place.

Corinne Jones from St. Mary’s High School achieved the fourth best jump but was still awarded third place, which she shared with Hernandez. This occurred due to a change in state rules.

The new rule, put in place last year, states that when a trans athlete places in a postseason event, the next-closest “cisgender” girl will share the placement.

Despite the rule being made to mollify parents, Hernandez’s mom was less than pleased with it. Early in May, Nereyda Hernandez ripped the new rule.

“All these big, tough ex-athletes at CIF, and the most courage they could muster was to hand this to coaches at AB’s meet today,” the group wrote. “Not one of them was brave enough to look her or her mother in the eye and say: ‘This whole project of violating Ed Code is aimed at you. A child.’”

Hernandez also wrote that her “heart was full watching A.B compete.”

“Today at the CIF Track & Field Finals, my heart was full watching A.B compete,” she wrote after her son’s competition.

“No matter how differently she may be seen by some, she continues to walk onto that field with the most beautiful smile on her face, gives EVERY event her ALL, and carries herself with grace, determination, and sportsmanship,” she wrote.

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