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Debt Rattle July 5 2026

Jul 052026
 
 July 5, 2026  Posted by at 10:07 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  6 Responses »


Edward Hopper Room in Brooklyn 1932


• Semiquincentennial (Greg Byrnes)
• My Love Letter to America (Catherine Salgado)
• Burning Down the House (James Howard Kunstler)
• ‘Gave Iran Week Off Because We’re Nice’: Trump (ZH)
• Trump’s Mount Rushmore Speech Outrages the Media (Spencer)
• Survey: Democrats Turning Heavily in Favor of Socialism (Turley)
• America Turns 250. How Much Does It Owe Russia? (RT)
• Putin Is Destroying Russia (Paul Craig Roberts)
• ‘The Crisis Is Deep’: The View From Russia As Fuel Shortages Worsen (AlJ)
• New York’s Heat Wave Exposes the Cost of Political Fantasy (Manney)
• Ron DeSantis Has a Couple GREAT Questions For Zohran Mamdani (Doug P.)
• Congresswoman Labels Hillary Clinton ‘Deplorable’ (JTN)
• After Importing 50 million Migrants, Europe Declares a “Housing Crisis” (CTH)

 


 

 


 


Love the word.

“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav’n” is the most famous line of the poem.

• Semiquincentennial (Greg Byrnes)

Revolutionary greetings, fellow Americans, on our semiquincentennial. How odd it is that we who disdain revolution celebrated it. Some may consider this an irony of history. In fact, it is built into the new system of government from its birth in 1775 through the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. The first year of the American Revolution was 1775, at least on the battlefield. And without that battlefield, all the talk in that hot summer in Philadelphia would’ve gone nowhere. Like millions of other Americans, on this day, I also salute our forebears who fought in the Revolution. According to a book I read, 75 of my family members were under arms, most lowly grunts.


One actually made it into one of those majestic paintings hanging in a museum. He is near a mounted George Washington treating a wounded Lt. James Monroe. The lieutenant survived and later declared a doctrine that people debate to this day. George Bailey and Paul Harvey, call your offices. Of course, the important person in the picture is Gen. Washington: No Washington, no revolution. Or even worse, no Washington, and we get an American version of the French Revolution! That would’ve been a double calamity.

Americans talk about the Civil War, that unpleasantness between North and South. But they forget the first civil war was between loyalists and what we now call patriots. So hats off to their descendants today, whether living in the United States or Canada. Since things turned out so well, all is forgiven. bIn high school, our summer reading assignment included books on the revolution by Kenneth Roberts. Arundel and Rabbel in Arms from the revolutionary point of view, and Oliver Wiswell from the loyalist point of view. In grammar school, we read Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. Good books, as I recall, and conducive to understanding both history and patriotism.

The hidden warning in the American Revolution is government debt. With massive debt and the tragedy of compound interest over generations, England was desperate for money and decided the colonies were a ripe chicken to pluck. Mismanagement of debt and hubris led to their fall. Have we learned the lesson? The founding fathers were, dare I say it, a bit nuts as creative geniuses tend to be. The two most opposite extremes were John Adams and Thomas Paine.

Paine was a radical anti-clerical atheist who relied on Satan’s speech and other gems in the epic poem Paradise Lost in his writing, including Common Sense. “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav’n” is the most famous line of the poem. No wonder the Catholic Church placed Milton on the Index of Forbidden Books.

And there was Adams, who, as the revolution loomed, didn’t get cold feet but felt something of a cold chill at the prospect that this revolution would lead to a destructive form of democracy. He feared control by a mobocracy like the ones that destroyed every other republic in recorded history, especially if radicals like Tom Paine were to take control. In fact, Paine eventually did join the French Revolution. Adams took a different course. Ever the rival of Thomas Jefferson, Adams was of the opinion that the true Declaration of Independence was actually on May 15, 1776, when the Continental Congress passed “the most important resolution that was ever taken in America.“

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1,000 of these.

• My Love Letter to America (Catherine Salgado)

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a new nation came into being, utterly unique in history, conceived in liberty, acknowledging only one king (God), and destined to become the greatest country upon earth.


From George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to Ronald Reagan, from Alexander Hamilton to U.S. Grant, from Frederick Douglass to George Patton, from John Fitzgerald to Davy Crockett, America has produced some of the greatest men in history. Brilliant leaders, thinkers, statesmen, generals, inventors, scientists, and writers fill the annals of our history. We the People of the United States alone can say that our nation arose not out of conquest or power grabs or ethnicity, but out of noble principles and fundamental truths about human dignity.

I love America more than anything except my faith, and it is tragic that this has become for many Americans a sappy or an offensive statement. At one time, not so long ago, a majority of Americans were proud to say publicly how much they loved this nation. Now it seems as if most Americans (especially young Americans) either hate America or couldn’t care less. Some major U.S. cities are holding no significant public July 4 events. Democrats gripe about every event that is happening. Traveling across Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia in the last few days, I have seen far more ads for the World Cup than for America 250. What happened to the patriots of yesteryear?

I ask this because it has shocked and saddened me how few people I know, especially Gen Z, share my excitement about America’s 250th birthday. What a magnificent achievement, what a historic day this is! In 1776, a couple dozen men in the Continental Congress voted for independence, knowing only a third at most of the colonists were patriots, knowing Britain was the most powerful empire in the world, knowing how impossible seemed their chance of success. In 2026, America is the most powerful, prosperous, and influential nation on earth. God has given us so many blessings, and it behooves us to be grateful.

Unlike any other country, America alone lived up in principle (though not always in practice) to the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14ff, Luke 19:12ff). America uniquely took into account God’s affirmation that seeking a king besides Him is sinful and foolish (1 Samuel/Kings 8). If other modern countries have attempted a republican form of government, it is in imitation of us and our Biblically-influenced system.

From my earliest childhood, I learned how remarkable and marvelous it was to be American. My grandfather and mother taught me many patriotic songs and tales of U.S. heroes. My father and mother both emphasized the honor of wearing a U.S. military uniform. My siblings and I acted out battles of the American Revolution during the long summer days. In college, I researched the anti-American propaganda I heard and found the truth even more compelling than I had supposed. When I grew up and could afford to travel, I wanted to go to every American museum and historic monument I could reach.

From Mount Vernon to Gettysburg to Tombstone to San Antonio to West Point to Trenton, everywhere I found the tales of great and good and dynamically original Americans, pioneers and revolutionaries and warriors. Yes, there have always been those who wish to destroy America from within, particularly the Democrat Party, and they have sometimes made America fall from its ideals. But my family was right to teach me to take pride and joy in being American, in living in a country that always strives for liberty even when it falls short.

Being American is a defining part of my identity. I only wish I could say I have sacrificed and accomplished something for the U.S., because like many young Americans now, I enjoy the blessings without the trials the previous generations endured. I hope if ever a trial comes, I can be as brave as the men and women of past generations. Without America, the world plunges into hopeless tyranny and chaos. Living here is a gift and being a citizen here a privilege. May God bless America, now and always.

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“I forgot to get napkins. I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.” —Darializa Avila-Chevalier, primary election winner, New York’s 13th Congressional District.

• Burning Down the House (James Howard Kunstler)

Who are all these Democratic Socialists of America, anyway? “We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization,” one of their spoxes declared on Instagram in 2024. Hmmmm . . . . I wonder if you can be a little more specific. Like, including democracy and socialism, two western civ constructs? Kind of looks like a baby / bathwater situation, followed by burning down the house where the baby lived. Do we get a chance to debate this proposition in the midterm election? Likewise, a St. Paul, Minnesota, school board member, one Chauntyll Allen offered the following policy recommendation on the We Love Our Dog Park Facebook page:


A bad moon is rising on our nation’s 250th birthday. The country is in a rancid mood. You begin to see what happens when political ideas are carried to their last limits. Question is: does all this add up to a winning party platform? You must suppose that higher-ups in the Democratic Party are asking themselves the question now. What do Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer think when they see these Angels of Death on the march (or in flight) over the midterm battlefield?

Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, and Melat Kiros are going to Congress to link arms with “The Squad” — AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley — and they will bring their cargo of DSA policy ideas with them: racial, gender, and social justice; abolish ICE (no more deporting anybody); defund the police; end incarceration (no more jails); free housing and medical care; green this-n-that; government ownership of business; abolish the Senate and the electoral college; pack the SCOTUS. . . .

The platform apparently has a lot of appeal to a certain demographic — which, I suspect, includes the many young recent graduates of the diploma mills who are pissed-off that Mr. Trump & Company are methodically shutting down the NGOs that were supposed to furnish these young race-and-gender studies majors with cushy, six-figure jobs doing “activism.” Alas, that pathway is increasingly blocked and the country only needs so many baristas. What to do then? Take it to the limit! Be communists. . . with all that entails. What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine, too.

his new gen of Democratic Socialists is arguably worse than the Confederates of 1861. Those Rebs only wanted to secede from USA and go their own way in one corner of the land. They didn’t want to piss on Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonardo DaVinci, Jane Austen, Margaret Fuller, and Ralph Waldo Emerson as they walked out. The Democratic Socialists of our day are fully aligned with their avatars: Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot, who operated human meat-grinders at scale to tamp down the opposition. Not a great look to align with the great mass-murderers of history.

It must be agony for Schumer and Jeffries. Eradicate Western Civ. . . ? Piss on white people’s corpses. . . ? Are they really going to get behind that? No-o-o-o-o. But they will try to wriggle around this steaming pile for some weeks to come until it is obvious that the Democratic Party has blown itself up, hoisted itself on that old petard. It may be too late for the party’s old guard. No matter how many rain-dances Elizabeth Warren does, nothing will put out this dumpster fire.

Another question for the months ahead: can that party control its increasingly maniacal street warriors, the Antifas, the Pink Pistols, the Transgender Armed Defense forces, and whatever remains of BLM. There is still a lot of money in circulation for public demonstrations and disruptions from George Soros and other sponsors. And apart from that are the forces of jihad, with their own foreign patrons. Gawd knows how many jihadis came into the country during “Joe Biden’s” orchestrated alien invasion. Not just a few, you can be sure.

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“References Ayatollah Funeral In Rushmore Speech”

• ‘Gave Iran Week Off Because We’re Nice’: Trump (ZH)

On Friday President Trump delivered a speech at Mount Rushmore to kick off the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations, and in it he confirmed that everything regarding Iran – whether on the military or diplomatic fronts – have been paused to allow for the Islamic Republic to bury its late supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Trump said Washington “knocked the hell out of Iran” and that the country was “dying to settle”. He also made comparisons between the lengthy Iran conflict and the brief US operation to overthrow Maduro of Venezuela.


“We beat Venezuela in one day, and we knocked the hell out of Iran,” he said. That’s when he claimed that the current US posture and pause in action is all about allowing the Iranians time to conduct a week-long funeral for the slain Khamenei, killed during the opening day of Operation Epic Fury. “We gave them a week off for a funeral because we’re nice,” he said. The funeral ceremonies began in Tehran on Friday, with government representatives from dozens of countries paying respects, and with the public multi-city procession in full swing on Saturday, amid a heavy Iranian security presence.

While the US administration is touting its Iran ‘excursion’ as a ‘win’ – the reality is that it is looking more like a quagmire with each passing week. Iran is no closer to abandoning its nuclear program, it is proclaiming its own control over the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian protocol, and its ruling clerics and IRGC military apparatus are firmly in place. Trump and White House officials had from day one vowed a rapid engagement, saying repeatedly it would end ‘fast’ – and had even initially touted that regime change would be imminent – but now it’s been 127 days since the conflict’s start.

Trump in his Rushmore speech didn’t dwell long on the Iran (mis)adventure, but moved on rather quickly to themes of American exceptionalism. “Americans honor excellence; we admire boldness; we respect ambition,” Trump said. “We are a nation of dreamers and believers, warriors and explorers, doers and fighters and in every human endeavor Americans see an unfinished competition.

“What is strong can be made stronger. What is fast can be made faster. What is great can be made greater than ever before. And that’s what’s happening with America.” He continued: “Show us a mountain, and we’ll just climb it. Show us an ocean and we’ll just cross it. Show us a problem and we will just solve it. Show us a task the world calls impossible and Americans will get it done.”

There’s a rich irony in Khamenei’s public funeral starting on the very day, July 4th, that America celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding. The founding fathers warned the young Republic that America “goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” John Quincy Adams famously warned, “She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.”

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“Like Nothing Since the Days of Reagan “

• Trump’s Mount Rushmore Speech Outrages the Media (Spencer)

Speaking at Mount Rushmore on Friday to commemorate the 250th anniversary of our nation, President Donald Trump sounded the alarm: “As we approach this magnificent anniversary, we see our American identity under a renewed attack.” He observed that “a generation after we fought and won the Cold War against the menace of communism, there is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success.”


There was no doubt whatsoever that what he was saying was true, and that thirty-five years after the end of the Cold War, communism is indeed resurgent in the U.S. The establishment media confirmed this by falling easily back into its old Cold War habit of sneering at foes of communism as if patriots were fabricating the threat entirely, or at very least wildly exaggerating it in order to advance their own agenda.

The New York Times report was dripping with so much contempt that you’d think it was the good old days again, when they were sneering at Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. “Mr. Trump,” sniffed the Gray Lady, “read from an apocalyptic script as the stony faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln looked on. He said the word ‘communism’ so many times, you might’ve thought the Cold War was still on.” You’d think Trump had done something really gauche like ask Mr. Gorbachev to tear down this wall. (Back in 1987, when Ronald Reagan actually called on Soviet top dog Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, the Times complained that the president was “using this speech to portray Moscow as the villain in the arms race.”)

Trump, the rootless cosmopolites continued, was — horror of horrors — “not subtle.” He declared that communism was “‘the enemy of July 4, 1776.’ He called it a bigger threat than Pearl Harbor and even 9/11. He name-checked Karl Marx.” As well he should, for Marx is the intellectual godfather behind the communist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s petulant 250th anniversary remarks, in which he whined that “the powerful” view America as “an arena of supremacy, where only a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal.”

Trump didn’t address Mamdani’s remarks directly, but he made it very clear that he knew what they represented: the politics of envy and hatred, which leads to social upheaval, total government control, and the state’s enslavement of its citizens. “These are not mere political disagreements,” Trump said, “like differences over taxes or regulations. Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty. It is the greatest threat to our country.”

Speaking accurately about communism in a way that the New York Times hasn’t done since its Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter Walter Duranty covered up Stalin’s Ukrainian famine, Trump said that it was “the exact opposite of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s death, tyranny and the pursuit of evil.” He added: “You can be loyal to Karl Marx, or you can be loyal to America. You can be a communist, or you can be a patriot. You cannot be both.”

That is undeniable, both because communism is an internationalist system that rejects all nationalism, and because it considers allegiance to anything but the international working class (which is in reality the bosses of whatever communist system is at hand) to be an unacceptable attachment to bourgeois capitalism.

Continuing in his classic Trumpian fashion, the president said that “the Communist Party is made up of illegal immigrants, criminals, and everybody that doesn’t want to work. Communism is a loser. It always was, and it is. Right now, it’s a big loser. Look at the people that are promoting it.” Trump has called a lot of people losers over the years, and in this case his usage may seem odd, given the fact that Democratic Socialists of America candidates have just won some impressive victories, and the Marxists appear to be on the march in America.

Trump is, however, entirely correct. Communism is an ideology for losers, as it punishes the productive for their productivity and rewards the thugs who manage to seize and hold power, all while presenting itself as the triumph of social justice and equality of rights for all. Only losers would fall for that lie, and only slaves would submit to it, and Trump doesn’t want to see America become the land of either one.

“Tonight,” the president said, “we gather on the eve of one of the most extraordinary days in the history of the world. Tomorrow we mark 250 years of glorious independence and 250 years of majestic American freedom – nothing like it.” Indeed there isn’t. And now that we have come this far, it would be a world-historical tragedy to lose it all to the most obviously failed ideology in the history of the world.

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“While 85 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of independents said that they would not vote for socialists, 62 percent of Democrats said that they would.”

• Survey: Democrats Turning Heavily in Favor of Socialism (Turley)

For many of us who were raised in liberal, Democratic families, the infusion of socialist, anti-free-speech, and anti-Semitic elements into the party has been alarming. The party was always in favor of social welfare programs but remained ardently committed to free markets and free speech. Now, we have CNN anchors openly questioning whether candidates are too Jewish-looking for the Democratic base as socialists sweep away establishment candidates. A recent poll reaffirmed that trend with a vast majority of Democrats saying that they are prepared to support the socialists.


A recent Economist/YouGov survey asked respondents, “Would you ever vote for a candidate who identified as a “Democratic Socialist?” While 85 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of independents said that they would not vote for socialists, 62 percent of Democrats said that they would. Among self-described liberals, the percent of support for socialism soars to 73 percent. For Kamala Harris supporters, 64 percent would support socialists.

Even more alarming is the preference of Democrats for socialism over capitalism. Some 34 percent choose socialism while only 22 percent choose capitalism. Overall, 58 percent of Democrats view socialism in general “favorably.” It is not surprising that socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders went on YouTube this week to proclaim that “we are on the verge of the political revolution” that they have long sought to fundamentally change our system. In Rage and the Republic, I discuss this shift toward socialism:

“Much of the anti-capitalist movement is composed of young people who have never lived under a socialist or communist government. Popular politicians like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have made socialism chic, alongside wealthy celebrity adherents such as Lawrence O’Donnell, Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, and Sarah Silverman. There is a superficiality to many in this movement of wealthy celebrities wearing socialism on their designer sleeves. In one of the most glaring disconnects, Ocasio-Cortez attended the ritzy Met Gala (where tickets cost tens of thousands of dollars) wearing a designer dress with ‘Tax the Rich’ in large letters. It perfectly captured America’s armchair socialists, a commitment that often seems more performative than philosophical.”

Democratic establishment figures are maneuvering to stay ahead of the mob, many offering the far left the Supreme Court as bona fide. Others are staying silent as anti-Semitic figures fill their ranks. Some politicians are struggling to curry support with the growing socialist movement. Rep. Dan Goldman, who inherited a massive fortune as a trust baby, unwisely promised to help subsidize his campaign from his family fortune. With the addition of three homes, Goldman looked like the Richie Rich of the Democratic Party and lost by over 30 points.

Others are trying to downplay their wealth, from Rep. Ro Khanna, who reportedly has half a billion dollars from his wife’s inheritance, to Gov. Jay Robert “J.B.” Pritzker, who also inherited his fortune. Pritzker assured the mob that he is a different kind of billionaire, pointing at Trump billionaires as the rightful targets (not him with $4.3 billion). Notably, votes for socialists are not coming from blue-collar workers but from young, college-educated voters. These younger voters never experienced or watched the collapse of socialist systems in the last century. For them, the promise of the Mamdani’s “warmth of collectivism.”

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“The forgotten story of how the Russian Empire helped the US survive two defining crises..”

• America Turns 250. How Much Does It Owe Russia? (RT)

On July 4, the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence. Americans will honor the Founding Fathers, the Continental Army, and France’s decisive contribution to victory over Britain. But one foreign power that also helped shape the fate of the young republic has largely disappeared from popular memory. Twice in American history, first during the War of Independence and later during the Civil War, the Russian Empire took diplomatic and naval steps that helped the United States survive moments when its future was far from certain. Both times, St. Andrew’s flag flew on the side of the American republic.


The weapon that nearly strangled the American Revolution
When people think of the American Revolution, they usually picture battles at Lexington, Saratoga, or Yorktown. Far less attention is paid to the struggle at sea. Yet Britain’s greatest advantage over the rebellious colonies was not simply the Royal Navy itself, but its ability to wage economic warfare across the world’s oceans. In the eighteenth century, a maritime empire lived or died by commerce. Merchant fleets carried not only wealth but also food, weapons, military supplies, and the resources needed to sustain both armies and colonies. Disrupting those shipping lanes could cripple an opponent without winning a single decisive naval battle.

One of the most effective tools for doing so was privateering. Privateers occupied a legal middle ground between naval officers and pirates. Governments issued them letters of marque authorizing privately owned vessels to capture enemy merchant ships. Unlike pirates, privateers operated under state authority, bringing captured cargoes back to friendly ports, where the proceeds were divided between the state and the shipowners.

The system allowed maritime powers to wage commercial warfare on an enormous scale without maintaining prohibitively expensive fleets. Privateers could also stop neutral merchant ships if they were suspected of carrying goods destined for the enemy, particularly military supplies. As the American War of Independence expanded into a broader European conflict following the intervention of France and Spain, this increasingly drew neutral shipping into the fighting.

Russia, despite remaining outside the war itself, found its merchant vessels among those affected. Russian ships carrying grain and other cargoes to Mediterranean ports were increasingly intercepted by both regular warships and privateers. What had begun as Britain’s campaign against its enemies was gradually becoming a threat to neutral commerce across Europe. By the late 1770s, Catherine the Great concluded that neutrality meant little unless it could be defended. The stage was set for one of the most consequential diplomatic interventions of the American Revolution.

By 1778, Russia had already begun looking for ways to protect its merchant shipping. St. Petersburg proposed that Denmark jointly escort commercial vessels sailing to Russian ports, hoping to shield neutral trade from the growing conflict. The following spring, Russia, Denmark, and Sweden each dispatched naval squadrons to patrol northern waters while issuing declarations defending the rights of neutral commerce.The effort, however, failed to stop the seizures. Spain, despite being aligned with revolutionary France against Britain, continued intercepting Russian and Dutch merchant ships carrying grain to Mediterranean ports.

On February 28, 1780, the Russian empress responded with one of the most important diplomatic initiatives of the eighteenth century: the Declaration of Armed Neutrality. bIts message was simple. Russia had respected the rights of neutral commerce throughout its own wars and expected the same treatment in return. If Russian merchant ships continued to be stopped or their cargoes confiscated, the empire would defend its maritime rights by force. Any attempt to seize Russian vessels now carried the risk of war with one of Europe’s great powers.

The declaration established several principles that would reshape maritime law. Neutral ships were to enjoy free navigation between the ports of belligerent states. Enemy goods carried aboard neutral vessels were to remain protected unless they constituted military contraband. Blockades would be recognized only when they were physically enforced by naval forces rather than proclaimed on paper. Most importantly, Russia pledged to back these principles with armed squadrons rather than diplomatic protests alone.

Catherine’s initiative quickly evolved into something far larger than a Russian policy. Denmark and Sweden joined almost immediately, effectively closing the Baltic to unrestricted operations by the warring powers. Over the following years, the Netherlands, Prussia, Austria, Portugal, and the Kingdom of Naples also adhered to the convention. Even France, Spain, and the United States broadly accepted its principles, although they never formally entered the league. Britain, whose naval strategy stood to lose the most, remained the only major power to reject it. The greatest beneficiary, however, was neither Russia nor the European neutrals. It was the thirteen rebelling colonies.

Without the principles established by the Armed Neutrality, Britain would have enjoyed far greater freedom to isolate American ports and choke off the overseas trade on which the revolutionary economy depended. By limiting London’s ability to interfere with neutral shipping, Catherine’s declaration made such a blockade far more difficult to sustain. The young republic still had to win its independence on the battlefield, but the sea became a far less effective weapon against it. For a nation celebrating 250 years of independence, this remains one of the least remembered international chapters of the American Revolution.

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Yeah yeah.

• Putin Is Destroying Russia (Paul Craig Roberts)

Yulia Shapovalova, Moscow correspondent for Al Jazeera, reports that Pusillinamous Putin’s ever-widening war has, as I said it would, expanded deep into Russia far from the Donbas battlefield. Shapovalova reports “The crisis is deep,” as civilian fuel shortages worsen. Ukraine’s successful strikes on Russian refineries and fuel storage have imperiled supply and resulted in gasoline rationing throughout the country and long lines as Russians wait hours for their rationed supply. What Putin has achieved is a reduction in Russians’ confidence in their government.


Russia has had to halt export sales of gasoline and jet fuel, and lower the fuel grade standards for gasoline. In Crimea, a state of emergency has been declared. Concerns are being expressed that to insure adequate fuel supply for agricultural harvesting could result in industry shutdowns. Russia has had to purchase 80,000 tons of gasoline from India and hopes to be able to import 400,000 tonnes of gasoline each month from wherever Russia can get it. This clearly will not help the Russian balance of payments, which the pro-American Russian bank director will use for more punishment for Russians.

Confronted with a genuine crisis, what is Putin’s response?v“I would say it is not critical,” says Russia’s failed war leader. Little doubt that Russia’s population’s response to Putin is “not critical for who?” “Not critical for those of us who cannot rely on transportation because you refuse to win a war?” “Not critical for those of us whose choices might be to be laid off from our jobs or face a food shortage?” “Not critical to those of us who will face more punishments from your central bank director to pass the cost of the Russian trade deficit you are causing to us?”

Clearly, Putin and his incompetent Kremlin entourage are, while in the middle of an ever-widening and ever-unsuccessful war, destroying the confidence of the Russian people in the Russian government. The American Zionist Neoconservatives seem to have Putin in their camp, aiding and abetting Washington’s hegemony. Why would Putin do this? Why would he be allowed to do this?

Recently I asked, tongue in cheek, “Is Putin an Unaware Agent of the West,” and linked to Gilbert Doctorow’s article raising a similar question. Both articles were translated and published in a Russian newspaper, which served notice that the Russian media is no longer reticent and is asking pertinent questions. We are now half way into the fifth year of Putin fighting a war that he has shown no intention of winning.

The cause of such extraordinary failure is difficult to discern. Is the cause the alliance of Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s main negotiator, with the Russian billionaire oligarchs and the West and the advice of Putin’s pro-West central bank director who intentionally left $300 billion of Russian bank reserves where the West could seize it? Have pro-Western forces in Russia made it difficult for Putin to represent Russian interests?

I can’t say, but at least this is an explanation why a militarily powerful country would fail to win a conflict with a third rate military power after 4.5 years, much longer than it took Stalin’s Red Army to defeat the mighty German Wehrmacht. Putin now ranks as the worst failure of a military leader in world history.

Frederica Marsi, also a correspondent for Al Jazeera, reports: “Ukrainian drone attacks on energy infrastructure are intensifying fuel shortages in Russia, triggering a rare admission from President Vladimir Putin of the gravity of the situation. In unusually candid public remarks to a meeting of senior officials on Sunday, Putin explicitly acknowledged that Ukrainian strikes had led to fuel rationing.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/30/how-severe-is-russias-energy-shortage-because-of-ukrainian-strikes

But what Putin refuses to acknowledge is that the Ukrainian strikes on Russia are war. Putin calls increasingly successful Ukrainian strikes on Russia, aided and abetted by NATO and Washington, “terrorist attacks on our civilian targets and infrastructure.”

In other words, Russia is not at war. Russia is merely experiencing terrorist attacks. Like the US attack on the Nord Sea Pipeline. Like the US attack on the Russian strategic bombing fleet. Like the US attack on Putin’s home intended to kill him. There is no war here folks. Just terrorist actions.

As Putin has redefined war as random terrorist acts, he doesn’t have to win a war, just ration gasoline, run up the Russian trade deficit with gasoline imports, accept Russian civilian casualties as a result of “terrorist activities,” and do nothing to win a war. The failure to win the war is demoralizing the Russian people and discrediting Russia as a military power, a discrediting that is bringing on a much larger and more dangerous war with the West, a war that will be nuclear.

So readers, tell me, why is Putin destroying Russia’s military reputation and leaving the Russian people ever more open to attack? What can possibly explain the total failure of such a powerful military force as Russia to win a war with a third rate power after 4.5 years? The only possible answer is the total failure of Russian leadership.

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‘I would say it is not critical’: Putin

• ‘The Crisis Is Deep’: The View From Russia As Fuel Shortages Worsen (AlJ)

Russia faces a severe fuel deficit as Ukrainian drone strikes knock out a significant portion of its refining capacity. With continuing war in Ukraine and agricultural harvesting under way, the government is scrambling to re-route supplies, maintain price caps and enforce export bans to prevent further domestic shortages. Long lines at petrol stations are now a common sight throughout the country, including in the prosperous capital Moscow. People wait for hours to fill up their cars. In some places, the pumps are completely dry. There is a sense of patience but also mounting anxiety in the air.


“I’m deeply frightened by the uncertainty and the lack of understanding where the situation is heading,” a woman named Irina, waiting to fill up her car in Moscow, told Al Jazeera. Igor, another Moscow resident, said: “I think things can get out of control if the crisis causes major industries to shut down.” Analysts predict that increased fuel prices will mean higher transportation costs followed by significant price hikes for goods and services. Stanislav Mitrakhovich, an expert at the National Energy Security Fund at the Russian Financial University, said the crisis is “deep, yet for a long time, Russian authorities were unwilling to acknowledge it”.

He added that the Russian response has led to “greater public distrust” of authorities and, consequently, triggered panic buying. b“Indirect evidence indicates that Ukrainian drone attacks have disabled about a quarter of Russia’s oil refining capacity,” he told Al Jazeera. “Seasonal demand has also contributed to the problem. The crisis has led to rising fuel prices and local shortages, as some regions simply lack oil refineries.” The situation is “even worse” in regions close to the combat zone, he said. “Measures to restrict and ration fuel sales have long been in place there.”

To tackle the problem, Russia has imposed fuel rationing. Sales are often limited to about 20-30 litres (about 5-8 US gallons) per vehicle, and drivers must pump fuel strictly into vehicle tanks. Filling jerry cans is largely prohibited. Earlier, the government banned petrol and jet fuel exports. Officials are now weighing a ban on diesel exports, too. Authorities have loosened fuel-quality regulations, temporarily allowing lower-grade fuel for the domestic market. In Russia-controlled Crimea, a state of emergency has been declared.

As the approaching agricultural harvesting season relies on a steady stream of diesel, authorities are prioritising farming allocations to prevent a hit to food security. To offset the domestic shortfall, Moscow has sought fuel imports from neighbouring countries, such as Belarus, as well as Asian markets. Moscow has shipped in 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes of petrol from India, according to industry sources cited by the Reuters news agency. Russia reportedly plans to import 400,000 tonnes of petrol monthly from various countries.

‘I would say it is not critical’: Putin
While Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledges the crisis, he appears reluctant to end the war in Ukraine and insists the situation is under control. “These attacks on our facilities certainly create problems, that is obvious. We are currently seeing a certain shortage, though I would say it is not critical,” he said. “First and foremost, we have to rapidly and significantly increase production of air defence systems that are most in demand. We must also continue to improve them … Repairs at refineries must be completed more quickly.”

Ukraine is seizing its opportunity. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has authorised a 40-day military and intelligence campaign, aimed at pressuring Russia into ending the war. Mitrakhovich said the way the crisis unfolds from here depends on what’s more effective: Ukraine’s drone strikes or Russia’s air defences.

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How will Mamdani fix the grid?

• New York’s Heat Wave Exposes the Cost of Political Fantasy (Manney)

A grandmother in Queens didn’t need a lecture about her thermostat; she needed electricity. Con Edison temporarily shut off electric services Friday to about 9,800 residential and commercial customers in Southwest Queens after extreme heat and heavy demand damaged equipment. bThe affected neighborhoods included Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, and South Ozone Park.bThe company said the move was meant to allow quicker repairs and prevent longer, wider outages. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had already asked businesses and residents to set thermostats to 78ºF and hold off on running major appliances until early morning or late at night.


“I am asking every New Yorker to make a heat plan before the worst of this weather arrives,” said Mayor Mamdani. “The best protection against extreme heat is air conditioning. If you don’t have it at home, know now where you’ll go to stay cool. Check in on your neighbors, especially seniors, and if you see someone outside who appears to be in distress, call 311 so we can get help to them. This administration is using every tool we have to keep New Yorkers safe, but the strongest city is one where neighbors look out for one another.”

“We have deployed every resource this city has, but our most powerful tool isn’t a forecast or a cooling center. It’s a New Yorker,” said NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Christina Farrell. “The neighbor who knocks on the door, the family member who calls to check in, the stranger who stops to help. This holiday week, we are asking every New Yorker to look out for one another so that no one faces this heat alone. Visit nyc.gov/beattheheat or call 311 to find a cooling center near you and get the resources you need to beat the heat.”

City Hall said temperatures could feel as hot as 112ºF during the historic holiday weekend heat wave. The mayor’s office also opened more cooling centers, extended pool hours, and expanded outreach to vulnerable New Yorkers. Conservation during a heat wave can be reasonable; families understand the strain. Most people will turn a dishwasher off, delay laundry, or nudge the thermostat up a few degrees if it keeps the lights on for a sick neighbor down the block.=v The insult comes when political leaders preach sacrifice after years of treating reliable energy like a dirty habit.

New York doesn’t have an ideology problem when the air is mild and the lights are on. It has one when the heat index climbs, the grid strains, and ordinary people are told to sweat through a crisis while the political class poses as noble managers of scarcity. Con Edison said heat, humidity, and higher demand from air conditioners strained the system. By Thursday night, crews had restored power to nearly 31,000 customers affected by scattered outages since the heat wave began. They were still working to restore service to about 5,000 customers in Staten Island, 5,000 in the Bronx, and 6,000 in Queens.

The company later said the heat wave was one of the most intense in more than a decade, with dangerous temperatures topping 100ºF. Crews worked around the clock repairing underground cables in sweltering conditions. bCon Edison told customers to defer major appliances between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m., use only one large appliance at a time, and set air conditioners to the highest comfortable temperature.

Gov. Kathy Hochul also urged New Yorkers to conserve electricity if safe, setting air conditioners between 75ºF and 78ºF and avoiding unnecessary appliance use. Her office said state officials were coordinating with Con Edison, NYISO, and New York City leaders so large energy users could switch to other fuel sources where possible. From the governor’s statement: “New York State is in the midst of a prolonged heat wave, and we’ve been carefully monitoring our electrical grid to ensure it is able to withstand the increase in energy usage and keep New Yorkers safe.

“My team has been coordinating with Con-Ed, NYISO and New York City leaders to ensure all large consumers able to switch to other fuel sources have done so to reduce their usage. Due to the increase in energy demand and unexpected load challenges, I am also calling on New Yorkers to do their part to proactively conserve electricity if safe to do so by setting air conditioning units between 75 – 78 degrees and avoiding unnecessary appliance use. These small steps can go a long way. “While we are asking for New Yorkers to voluntarily conserve power, it’s critical to stay safe in this dangerous heat: stay hydrated, reduce time outdoors and find a cooling center near you, especially if you’re a senior citizen or have health concerns.

“I thank New Yorkers for taking these steps to reduce their usage and helping us keep the power on and protect the most vulnerable in our community.” The problem isn’t one emergency request; it’s a governing culture that sees command as competence. Set the thermostat here, delay the appliance there, dim the signs, open a cooling center, and ask families to absorb the failure politely. If the power returns, politicians claim management; if the grid buckles, residents are told they didn’t sacrifice enough.

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Trump should step in.

• Ron DeSantis Has a Couple GREAT Questions For Zohran Mamdani (Doug P.)

Yesterday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered a speech about America’s 250th, and it was a patriotic tribute in appreciation of the freedom we all enjoy as citizens.

Just kidding!

Comrade Mamdani’s speech was exactly the kind of thing we were expecting from the socialist darling of the Democratic Party:

The American pride was palpable. Well, not really:

That’s… something. If Team Mamdani was going after a “hostage video” vibe they nailed it.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a couple of questions for Mamdani and his America-bashing pals:

Right?

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They sure are scared of Bill Pulte.

• Congresswoman Labels Hillary Clinton ‘Deplorable’ (JTN)

Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, is turning Hillary Clinton’s most infamous phrase against her, sharply criticizing the former First Lady’s suggestion that spy agency workers resist Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte and keep intelligence from him. “I’m going to use Hillary Clinton’s own words: deplorable,” Miller/Meeks told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Thursday. “That is disgusting behavior from a former secretary of state, from a former first lady, from a former senator.”


The Iowa congresswoman emphasized that President Donald Trump should have “every tool in his tool box” when it comes to national intelligence, especially given that the threat level is high as the United States hosts the World Cup and the 250th anniversary of Independence Day. “We need to have all ears to the ground to prevent tragedies from happening, such as the 9/11 tragedy,” Miller-Meeks said. In a “Democracy Docket” podcast on Wednesday with host Marc Elias, Clinton said Pulte’s appointment was “deeply insulting to the intelligence community” and that he lacks intelligence experience after Elias questioned her concerns regarding Trump’s replacement of Tulsi Gabbard with Pulte.

Gabbard announced in May she would be stepping down from the position to help care for her husband as he battles cancer. Clinton questioned why a lawsuit hasn’t been brought, stating she believes Pulte is “manifestly unqualified under the statute to hold that position.” The former First Lady has a tenuous relationship with the intelligence community given that the FBI in 2016 found evidence that she and her colleagues were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” “It certainly is unconscionable that she would say this,” Miller-Meeks said of Clinton.

Clinton said on the podcast that the DNI has access to all the nation’s spy secrets, that people should be “worried about everything” with Pulte in the position and that she hopes there are “career and even political appointees in various of the agencies that are slow-walking or refusing to share information with Pulte.”

After assuming his position, Pulte quickly followed through with Trump’s wish to lay off staffers within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.Other Democrats have criticized Trump for appointing Pulte, namely, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). “You’re going to turn the keys of all of our intelligence agencies over [to] somebody so grossly unqualified who’s shown he’s willing to take information and misuse it — secret information,” Warner said last month on Fox News.

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“The majority of the EU citizens did not want this migrant influx..”

• After Importing 50 million Migrants, Europe Declares a “Housing Crisis” (CTH)

The EU President Ursula von der Leyen travelled to Ireland to deliver remarks as Ireland takes their turn in managing the bureaucratic affairs of the EU Commission. As part of her speech to the audience, von der Leyen notes one of the biggest challenges facing the EU is a housing and affordability crisis. In the last 10 years, Europe has intentionally allowed around 50 million migrants to arrive and claim asylum. The majority of the EU citizens did not want this migrant influx. EU leadership is now declaring a “housing crisis” created by their own migrant policies. WATCH:



At this point in history, the European leadership is just making fun of European citizens.

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