What’s far less admirable is that, a year later, the public still doesn’t have clear answers about how a U.S. Army helicopter was allowed anywhere near the flight path of a commercial airliner during landing.
MARKETS
Gold
$4,576.89
+1.50%
Silver
$83.78
+4.85%
Bitcoin
$92,077.69
+1.56%
Dow
49,504.07
+0.48%
S&P
6,966.28
+0.65%
Nasdaq
23,671.35
+0.81%
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00 a.m. ET.
Lead: No Tears for the Federal Reserve
Photo credit: AI-generated image (ChatGPT/OpenAI)
A major political and legal confrontation is unfolding between the Justice Department and the Federal Reserve.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell issued a rare statement this weekend in response to subpoenas and threats of criminal charges from the Department of Justice, tied to his testimony before Congress last year about a multi-billion dollar renovation of Fed buildings in Washington, D.C.
Powell described the legal action as unprecedented, arguing that it threatens the Fed’s independence by attempting to punish the central bank for doing its job rather than following political pressure. He said the threat of prosecution was not genuinely about building renovations but about the Fed’s willingness to set interest rates based on economic conditions rather than on the preferences of the executive branch.
Should we, American taxpayers, get caught up in this? Do we care to defend the Federal Reserve against political lawfare? This is a tough one.
If what Powell says is true, the Trump administration is punishing Powell for not bowing to demands for lower interest rates and that would be wrong. But the very existence of the Federal Reserve is wrong!
The Federal Reserve is the monetary perversion underlying nearly every American problem. Politicians are able to spend endlessly on their priorities while the Fed enables them to print more money, quietly eroding the value of American workers’ hard-earned wages year after year.
On this point, Ron Paul has been unambiguous:
“It is and should be a mainstream cause to end the power and secrecy of the Fed. It’s my own view that ending the Fed would address the most vexing problems of politics of our time. It would bring an end to dollar depreciation. It would take away from the government the means to fund its endless wars. It would curb the government’s attacks on the civil liberties of Americans, stop its vast debt accumulation that will be paid by future generations, and arrest its massive expansions of the welfare state that has turned us into a nation of dependents.”
So what do the American people gain from this fight? Spoiler: Nothing.
If the Federal Reserve caves to the Trump administration’s demands for lower interest rates, the result will be further dollar devaluation and expanded capacity to fund wars the administration clearly wants in Iran, Greenland, Venezuela, Ukraine, and more.
If the Fed does not cave, it still retains unconstitutional powers that harm Americans in quieter but equally destructive ways.
Either way, this is not a fight being waged on our behalf.
We gain nothing from it.
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A new law in New York now forbids anonymous reports of child abuse, on the grounds that the system disproportionately impacted “Black and Brown families.”
According to the state, anonymous child-abuse tip lines produced “inexcusable racial disparities that disproportionately impact Black and Brown families by leading to unnecessary interactions with child welfare services that can forever change a family.” The argument continues: children are “all too often removed from their homes” due to racial bias and conditions related to poverty.
So let’s be clear about what’s being said here.
Increased scrutiny followed reports of poor or unsafe living conditions — and instead of asking whether children were in danger, the state became more concerned with the demographics of who was being reported.
In other words, New York is effectively arguing that the act of seeing poor conditions is itself harmful, because of racial disparity.
What!?
A sane, caring response would be: Maybe we should protect children living in unsafe, chaotic, or neglectful conditions — regardless of race. White children living like that would likely benefit from intervention too.
Instead, New York’s Democratic leadership appears to have concluded: Let’s hear less about abuse affecting Black and Brown children.
This is willful blindness, dressed up as equity and critics warn it will mean more child abuse, less reporting, and children suffering quietly where no one is allowed to look.
Redacted Featured Video
Did you catch this segment we did last week about the food pyramid? Did you know that the old food pyramid was heavily influenced by a powerful Christian denomination? Any guesses which one?
What’s Trending?
Photo credit: criticschoice.com/
President Trump is trending for posting this image describing himself as the “Acting President of Venezuela.” It’s almost not worth the effort of trying to figure out why. It is the energy of your uncle yells “I won!” at a family game night.
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