A new trend in Asia involves adults using pacifiers to soothe themselves like babies. Doctors say this is a bad idea but you shouldn’t need a doctor to figure that out.
Photo credit: South China Morning Post
In Case You Missed It
🗣️ President Trump will hold a news conference on Monday to discuss plans to clean up Washington D.C. from crime and homelessness.
🔊 North and South Korea have agreed to stop tormenting each other with loudspeakers blasting everything from metallic scraping to eerie, ghost-like sounds. Newly elected South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has vowed to ease tensions with Pyongyang, and this is a good move in that direction.
🏛️ House Oversight Chairman James Comer says his investigation into President Biden’s alleged mental decline—and frequent use of an autopen in his final days—could provide grounds to challenge or invalidate some of Biden’s pardons and executive orders.
🗂️ The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has instructed federal agencies to erase all employee records of COVID-19 vaccination status, noncompliance with mandates, and exemption requests, citing concerns that federal workers were unfairly penalized during the pandemic.
🛫 Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki, will make his first foreign trip to Washington on Sept. 3 to meet Donald Trump.
🚔 UK police arrested over 400 people, many over 60, at London’s largest protest for the banned group Palestine Action.
📺 Join us live for Redacted tomorrow—Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET. We’ve got plenty to talk about, and this week’s live shows will run Tuesday through Thursday.
MARKETS
Gold
$3,363.46
-1.08%
Silver
$37.90
-1.13%
Bitcoin
$121,823.57
+3.21%
Dow
44,175.61
+0.47%
S&P
6,389.45
+0.78%
Nasdaq
21,450.02
+0.98%
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00 AM ET.
Lead: Zelensky Says Alaska Is ‘Too Far’ — After Flying Everywhere Else for War Cash
Photo Credit: Tass
President Trump announced that a meeting with Russian President Putin will happen in Alaska on August 15. There are conflicting reports about whether or not Ukrainian President Zelensky was invited and he is throwing a fit about it on X.
He complained that Alaska is “very far away from this war, which is raging on our land, against our people, and which anyway can’t be ended without us, without Ukraine.”
Funny how the distance wasn’t a problem when he flew to Canada, Washington D.C., Asia, the Middle East, and South Africa to hustle more money for the war — but Alaska is suddenly too far? You’d think the guy has enough frequent flyer miles to get there for free.
European leaders expressed support for the U.S.-led peace talks with their usual caveats: “Ukraine has the freedom of choice over its own destiny.”
They do. But they don’t have the right to keep the war going with other people’s weapons and money. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said this weekend that the U.S. is done funding this war and if Europe wants it so badly, they can step in and fund it.
We’ve heard that line before. No leader has actually pulled the plug. Do they mean it this time?
A Real War on Drugs — or Just Another Forever War?
Photo Credit: The New York Times
The New York Times reports that President Trump “secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels.” There is no sourcing so we’ll take this with a grain of salt since it is The New York Times after all.
But if there is any truth to this, what it means is unclear. Will the U.S. launch ground forces against cartels? Drone strikes on drug labs? Carry out missions on cartel leaders? It could be anything really.
The Times says that this would be tricky because it would raise “legal issues, including whether it would count as ‘murder’ if U.S. forces acting outside of a congressionally authorized armed conflict were to kill civilians — even criminal suspects — who pose no imminent threat.”
Lol, have they ever heard of Syria? Iraq? Afghanistan? Panama City? What makes this a sudden concern when the U.S. drones civilians with impunity on the regular?
If the President wants a real war on drugs, he should ask for a Congressional declaration. The American people would probably support that far more than a war in Ukraine or Gaza. But would this mean an illegal invasion of another country like Mexico, which has many times given this idea a hard no? And is there any chance of success? The drug trade is a starfish, not a spider. When one arm is cut off, another grows to replace it. Does the U.S. military really have the capability to see this through or is there another way?
War Hits Wallets—Shield Yours with Gold
Cities crumble in conflict—and so can currencies. With Washington spending at wartime speed, the U.S. debt has rocketed past $34 trillion and the interest tab alone tops $1 trillion a year. The “fix”? Print more dollars—fueling inflation and eroding your savings.
That’s why central banks and billionaires are piling into gold and silver. Goldman Sachs now pegs gold at $4,500/oz by 2026—because real assets thrive when paper money falters.
My family moved a chunk of our nest egg into precious metals years ago; even our kids hold coins. It’s not a fad—it’s financial self-defense.
Want the playbook? Call Lear Capital, 800-613-3557, or grab their free kit at LearRedacted.com. No pressure, just facts—before the next shockwave rattles the markets.
Israel Is Losing Hearts — Now It Wants to Control Minds
Photo Credit: Graphic by Natali Morris, created in Canva
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that 60% of those who post critical things about Israel are “bots…especially in America.” He also says that the algorithm is driving criticism of Israel and, most concerningly he said, “we have to contend with it.”
No sir, you don’t have to contend with American opinion or American social media. That is categorically NOT for a foreign leader to contend with. We will post and think whatever the heck we want as long as we have any modicum of freedom left.
Remember when we were told to be outraged over the alleged idea that Putin did this? Why is it fine when Netanyahu says it out loud?
This came in response to the global condemnation of Israel’s plan to occupy Gaza, which Netanyahu says is not what you think it is, he says. On Friday, he said that Israel is “not going to occupy Gaza – we are going to free Gaza from Hamas.” But in practice, Israel will “demilitarize” Gaza and install an “independent” government that poses no threat to Israel. Parsing words doesn’t change the plan.
Is Israeli opposition growing? As reported by The Times, thousands of people — including families of the remaining hostages — rallied over the weekend to reject Netanyahu’s plan, calling it a setback to freeing their loved ones. Activists even disrupted a broadcast of the country’s Big Brother TV show, accusing the media of ignoring what is happening in Gaza. A nationwide strike is planned for next Sunday, with private companies, unions, politicians, and individuals expected to participate from 7 a.m.
But what about those hostages you said you were trying to free? He said that Israel will be “creative” in getting them out. Huh. It wouldn’t have required much creativity to accept Hamas’ offer of all-for-all hostages but alas, that is where we are.
Israel also admitted to killing a journalist over the weekend that they say was a terrorist without providing proof. He was a journalist and he was targeted while in a tent city and killed along with six others. This was his last post before his death. Two weeks ago, the United Nations warned about threats to his life from Israel but nothing was done to protect him and now it’s too late.
These things don’t exactly win over public opinion for Israel.
Note: Redacted staff are not bots.
News By The Numbers
Photo Credit: Tesla
10–20. That is how many Tesla robotaxis are currently on the road in Austin, Texas after the city granted Tesla a permit to run the driverless taxi service.
6.1. That is the magnitude of the earthquake that hit Turkey on Sunday. As of Sunday, there were no reported deaths.
$600. That is how much each American adult (and each dependent child) would receive in refundable tax credits under the proposed American Worker Rebate Act. Though it’s being billed as a ‘tariff stimulus check,’ in reality it would likely add to the national deficit because there isn’t actually surplus money to pay for it. Its chances of passing are very slim.
While Brussels Lectures Moscow, Europe Slides Toward Authoritarianism
Photo Credit: AI-generated image (ChatGPT/OpenAI)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had a protester arrested while telling him that he was lucky not to be in Russia or else, he’d be arrested. The irony writes itself.
European media reports that the man was a candidate in the 2024 European elections, although that is hard to verify.
The incident highlights how fast freedom is eroding in the European Union.
In Germany, a new bill gives authorities permission to hack devices without suspicion and track every airline passenger automatically without independent oversight. Reclaim the Net says that the bill would make “every international flight in or out of Schengen… a ‘risk route’ by default. Passenger data would be delivered to police automatically, no questions asked, no warrants signed.”
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