This interactive map shows the booziest counties in the U.S. It shows the percentage of people in each county that engage in excess drinking, meaning more than 8-15 drinks per week. The booziest county in the U.S. is Gallatin County, Montana. What’s going on up there?
🇵🇱 Hundreds of protestors in Poland marched against their country’s support of Ukraine.
🇨🇴 Colombian President Gustavo Petro says the country will cut diplomatic ties with Israel over their genocide in Gaza.
🚔 Pro-Palestinian protests turned violent at UCLA before police could break up the clash.
🪐 The Pentagon is warning that Russia and China are working on the ‘militarisation’ of space and that could involve a nuclear weapon.
👵🏻 A new study shows that women live longer than men but they live in poor health towards the end of their lives with “non-fatal conditions” such as musculoskeletal problems and headache disorders.
📻 Congress looks like it will pass the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act requiring carmakers to keep AM radio in every car after at least eight automakers have tried to drop it from vehicles. Tech and auto industry groups oppose this bill.
MARKETS
Gold
$2,299.94
-1.06%
Silver
$26.26
-1.96%
Bitcoin
$57,692.48
+1.38%
Dow
37,903.29
+0.23%
S&P
5,018.39
-0.34%
Nasdaq
15,605.48
-0.33%
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00pm AM.
The Lead: Interest Rates Not Dropping Anytime Soon
Don’t hold your breath for interest rate cuts. The Federal Reserve did not lower interest rates on Wednesday and indicated that it would not do so in the near future because of a “lack of progress” in lowering inflation.
European bankers say that they are hoping the U.S. cuts rates so that their rates can drop within a year of that move. Hong Kong is also keeping in lockstep with the U.S. and kept rates unchanged. But if the U.S. won’t budge, the dominoes can’t fall.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell did say that they most likely will not raise rates again, indicating a peak and a plateau.
“I think it’s unlikely that the next policy rate move will be a hike,” Powell said.
Interest rates typically drop in election years, which usually serves to help the incumbent. President Biden has said that he hopes that the rates drop soon but inflation was up to 2.7% in March from 2.5% in February. The Fed will meet three more times before the November election.
The House of Representatives passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023. It defers to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) to define antisemitism and allows for the “enforcement of Federal anti-discrimination laws concerning education programs or activities, and for other purposes."
The IHRA working definition of antisemitism includes criticism of Israel and “claims of Jews killing Jesus.” So…the Bible? Does the house really want to forbid people from criticizing Israel as law? That's chilling!
Antisemitism is abhorrent but it is a First Amendment right. This was established by the Supreme Court in the 1977 case National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie. This case was defended by a Jewish ACLU lawyer David Goldberger on behalf of a Nazi group in Illinois. Goldberg would later write about this case: “The power to censor Nazis includes the power to censor protesters of all stripes and to prevent the press from publishing embarrassing facts and criticism that government officials label as ‘fake news.’”
Defending speech you don’t like is an American value. Has the House forgotten that?
Bank On Yourself and Take Control of Your Money and Finances
We've been brainwashed into believing the only way to grow our money for retirement is to risk it in the stock market. Not true. You CAN reach your financial goals and dreams without taking any unnecessary risks. Do you really control your retirement money? If you’ve got a 401(k) or IRA or similar retirement plan, the government controls it. They decide how much you can borrow and when you must pay it back, and you’ll owe taxes and penalties for taking money out too soon or waiting too long, even though it’s YOUR money. And thanks to our skyrocketing national debt, who knows how much you’ll have to pay in taxes during a retirement that could last 30 years?
Guaranteed, predictable growth and retirement income – with no luck, skill, or guesswork required. In fact, Bank On Yourself has a 160-year-plus track record of positive growth!
Tax-free retirement income. You’ll know what your tax rate will be in retirement: ZERO, under current tax law, which protects you from the coming tax tsunami.
Liquidity. You can get access to your money for any purpose with NO questions asked, and even use it for purchases or opportunities without interrupting the growth of those dollars. This is the strategy famous businesses like McDonalds and Walt Disney used when no banker would lend them a dime, and almost anyone can do it!
You’re in control. You have control of your money without government penalties or restrictions on how much income you can take or when you can take it. You don’t have to beg permission or pledge your first born to use your own money.
Peace of mind. Perhaps the best reason of all: You’ll know the minimum guaranteed value of your plan on the day you plan to tap into it – and at every point along the way!
You can get a FREE report with all the details of how adding Bank On Yourself to your financial plan can help you take back control of your money. Just go to BankOnYourself.com/redacted.
Representative Jim Jordan released The Amazon Files, Part 2 on his X account. It shows how the Biden Administration works with Amazon to remove or hide books from readers.
Amazon complied by adopting a “Do Not Promote” category internally for any anti-vaccine books. Emails show that this policy was requested by the Biden administration and when Amazon did not act fast enough, they faced continued criticism from the "Biden people" and the “the White House Taskforce.”
This won’t be surprising to readers who use Amazon or GoodReads. The sight clearly wants you to read and discover books consistent with the Biden administration’s policies on vaccines, race theory, censorship and many more topics. Recently, Regina Watteel, author of the book Fisman’s Fraud, told Redacted that she was not allowed to advertise her book on Amazon because it detailed how the Canadian government used fake science to implement vaccine mandates and lockdowns.
This is the kind of censorship the Biden administration is currently fighting to keep doing in the Supreme Court.
Britney Griner is trending because she did an interview with ABC News called “20/20: Prisoner of Russia."
Ostarine is trending because boxer Ryan Garcia reportedly tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug. He says that this is “fake f-ing news.”
Duane Eddy is trending because the rock’n’roll guitarist died of cancer at the age of 86. He is known for pioneering a “twangy” guitar sound.
News By The Numbers
1.3. That is how many gaffes, or misstatements, President Biden makes per day according to recent analysis of White House transcripts.
$143.3 billion. That is how much Amazon sales were in Q1 of this year, a 13% increase from last year.
2.6. That is the magnitude of the earthquake felt in New Jersey on Wednesday.
Introducing a New Gender Called 'Kink' (don't shoot the messenger)
Is Kink a new gender and sexual identity? God help us, this is now a thing and it was trending in the U.K. this week.
Northwestern University in Illinois recently hosted a speaker who identifies as a “Kink” instructor at a For Members Only group. The speaker, Ericka Hart teaches BDSM/kink and “how people can and do apply these seemingly fringe elements to their everyday lives.”
So…kinky sexual play in public society? Like what, dare I ask? Well a recent article in New York Magazine says that a company recently hired a DEI trainer that identifies as a Kink and that this person teaches employees that everything in the work place could be considered “sexual play.” Even “misgendering.” You'd think a Human Resources person would step in to shut that down rather than hire them to say this in the workplace! Didn't the Me Too movement aim to take sexualization OUT of the workplace? Are we really putting it back in now in the name of LGBTQ acceptance?
This is very confusing and not at all funny. We should not be allowing gender identities on the basis of sexualizing every day life. Get out of here with that!
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This newsletter is written and researched by Natali Morris. Please feel free to reach Natali at [email protected] for any editorial feedback.
