Former President Trump has again declared he will “bring peace” following a rare phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, which comes as world leaders prepare for a likely second Trump administration. 

Trump in a readout hailed it as a “very good phone call” wherein Zelensky congratulated him on a “very successful” Republican National Convention and becoming the Republican nominee for US President.

Zelensky during the call condemned the “heinous” assassination attempt which targeted Trump, slightly wounding his ear, and praised American unity in the aftermath.

Trump apparently pushed a theme of the urgency of negotiations to end the war with Russia in the call:

“I appreciate President Zelenskyy for reaching out because I, as your next President of the United States, will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families,” Trump wrote.

“Both sides will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence and paves a path forward to prosperity.”

Zelensky similarly shared on X that he wished the former president and Republican nominee “strength and absolute safety in the future.”

“I noted the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support for protecting our nation’s freedom and independence,” Zelensky said. “Ukraine will always be grateful to the United States for its help in strengthening our ability to resist Russian terror.”

He also said he agreed with Trump to at some point discuss “at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting.” In general, the Ukrainian side liked what it heard, and responded positively, per Politico:

A person close to Zelenskyy who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversation said it went “exceedingly well” and that Trump pledged to “achieve a just peace in Ukraine” if he wins back the White House.

Zelensky and his top officials within the last year have excoriated peace proposals and statements coming from Trump and his team, earlier strongly suggesting Trump is naive. The Ukrainian leader has more than once even invited Trump to come to his war-ravaged country in order to “see for himself” the nature of Russia’s war there.

NATO at the same time has sought to “Trump-proof” the alliance’s long-term funding commitments to Ukraine, on fears that Washington support could soon drastically pull back. Trump has in the past blamed Biden’s weak standing on the world stage for allowing the Russian invasion to happen in the first place.

Authored by Mike Maharrey via Money Metals,

The federal government ran another big deficit in June, as the national debt inches closer to $35 trillion.

$35 trillion USD.

Trillion with a ‘T.’ 

That’s an unfathomable number. It’s meaningless to most people. We simply can’t comprehend a number that big.

Let’s try to put the $34.9 trillion national debt into perspective.

According to the National Debt Clock, every American citizen would have to write a check for $103,565 to pay off the national debt. 

Of course, a lot of people don’t pay taxes. That means the taxpayer burden is much higher. Every U.S. taxpayer would have to write a check for $266,953 to wipe out the debt.  And that’s on top of the taxes we already pay!

To put it another way, $35 trillion is more than the total economies of China, Japan, Germany, and the UK combined.

Visualizing 1 Trillion

1,000,000,000,000

It’s hard to wrap your head around how big 1 trillion is, much less 35 trillion. Here are a few factoids to help you visualize just how big that number is:

• There are 1 million seconds in 11.5 days. A trillion seconds is about 32,000 years. 
• If you could say one number every second, it would take about 11.5 million days to count to 1 trillion. 
• If you had spent $1 million every day since the birth of Christ, you still wouldn’t have spent $1 trillion.
• If you line up dollar bills end-to-end, you could go to the moon and back around 203 times with $1 trillion. You could wrap them around the earth about 3,893 times.
• If you stacked up 1 trillion dollar bills, the dollar tower would rise to 67,866 miles.
• If a cup of coffee costs $3, you could buy 333 billion cups of coffee with $1 trillion. 
• If you had 1 trillion dollars, you could give every person on Earth approximately $125.
• One trillion grains of rice would weigh about 20,000 metric tons. 

Keep in mind that all of these examples only illustrate the size of $1 trillion. The national debt is nearly 35 times that number.

James Madison once called a large national debt a “public curse.”

“I go on the principle that a Public Debt is a Public curse and in a Rep. Govt. a greater than in any other.”

We’re certainly cursed to the tune of $35 trillion USD.

Thomas Jefferson said he considered “public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.”

In his Farewell Address, George Washington urged us to use debt sparingly – and, get this, actually pay it off as quickly as possible!

“As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it.”

We failed to heed the warning of the Anti-federalist writer Brutus.

“I can scarcely contemplate a greater calamity that could befall this country, than to be loaded with a debt exceeding their ability ever to discharge. If this be a just remark, it is unwise and improvident to vest in the general government a power to borrow at discretion, without any limitation or restriction.”

And here we are.

For the first time since the Israel–Hamas war erupted last October, the Israeli military has deployed fighter jets to strike Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. This action follows an incident where the rebels penetrated Tel Aviv airspace with a kamikaze drone (also for the first time) on Friday, resulting in the death of one civilian. 

Huthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam posted on social media that a “brutal Israel aggression against Yemen” had just occurred. He noted that the airstrikes hit “fuel storage facilities and a power plant” in the Yemeni port of Hodeida “to pressure Yemen to stop supporting” Palestinians in the Gaza war. 

Footage of the attack has surfaced on X by early Saturday afternoon. 

Yemen’s oil infrastructure burning 👇

They shouldn’t have sent that f*cking drone to Tel Aviv.
pic.twitter.com/hT3MsOK0TS

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) July 20, 2024

12 Israeli warplanes, including advanced F35 jets, participated in aerial strikes on the port of #Hudaydah in Yemen. pic.twitter.com/aoOyKwtNvT

— Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) July 20, 2024

Twelve Israeli warplanes, including the advanced F35 jets, took part in aerial attack on the port of Hudaydah in Yemen pic.twitter.com/gJ8vCyWhhm

— PressTV Extra (@PresstvExtra) July 20, 2024

Axios reports US and Israeli officials confirmed the Israeli Air Force strikes in retaliation for the Houthi drone strike in Tel Aviv on Friday morning, killing one and wounding eight more. We noted that this Houthi drone strike risked “sparking escalation of warfare between Yemen’s Houthis, Hezbollah, and the State of Israel.”

“This attack makes it crystal clear to the Houthis and Iranians that strategic, energy-linked economic targets are fair game in retaliation for attacks on Israeli strategic locations like Tel Aviv,” Scott Modell, CEO of Rapidan Energy Group, tells us. 

Modell points out, “The Houthis are really taking a big risk because any tankers who supply them will now be in the crosshairs for retaliatory attacks by Israel. The US & NATO allies will continue to do practically nothing.” 

Mario Nawfal on X points out that Israel destroyed Yemen’s main port: 

Israeli airstrikes on Hodeidah port reportedly killed dozens and crippled the Houthis’ ability to unload containers. Hodeidah port is a crucial lifeline for Yemen, handling 70% of the country’s imports, including vital humanitarian aid. This strategic blow aims to disrupt supplies and intensify pressure on Yemen.

🇮🇱🇾🇪ISRAEL DESTROYED YEMEN’S MAIN PORT

Israeli airstrikes on Hodeidah port reportedly killed dozens and crippled the Houthis’ ability to unload containers.

Hodeidah port is a crucial lifeline for Yemen, handling 70% of the country’s imports, including vital humanitarian aid.… https://t.co/Kj8eKKftCt pic.twitter.com/pO06VWxdYT

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 20, 2024

Axios cited a senior Israeli official who said the strike on the port was ‘purely Israeli action.’ 

“This was a targeted operation at the port of Hodeida. We carried out the strike after many months of restraint in the face of Houthi attacks that included the firing of dozens of items, including surface-to-surface missiles,” the official said.

The IDF releases images and videos of F-15 fighter jets being prepared ahead of the strike in Yemen.

The attack also involved F-35 fighters, refueling planes, and reconnaissance aircraft. pic.twitter.com/lTfhTbkzss

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 20, 2024

Furthermore, Houthis have been increasing their aerial and surface drone attacks on the critical maritime chokepoint in the southern Red Sea, which has disrupted global shipping, sending the capacity of containers lower while pushing freight costs higher. The Biden administration’s Operation Prosperity Guardian has failed to secure the maritime route so far.  

Sigh… 

#BREAKING In response to airstrikes on Yemen’s Al Hudaydah, Houthis threaten Israel with operations that will ‘plague’ it pic.twitter.com/QiA6DTVf5A

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) July 20, 2024

*This story is developing. Please check back for updates. 

Authored by Jacob Burns via Headline USA,

In a decision released Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that illegal immigrants were not allowed to vote in Arizona.

🚨BREAKING: HUGE ELECTION INTEGRITY WIN🚨

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of @AZSenateGOP and the @AZGOP and will stop non-citizens from voting in our elections.

We are one MAJOR step closer to secure elections in Arizona! 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/y50AhITHn3

— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) July 18, 2024

However, the ruling will apply only through the primary elections, Votebeat Arizona reported.

With an appeals court scheduled to hear the case in September, it leaves open the possibility that the Gov. Katie Hobbs’s outrageous election-law loophole to let illegals vote in federal races may yet be reversed ahead of the Nov. 5 general election, with little time left afterward to seek additional remedy.

The current Arizona law inexplicably requires proof of citizenship for state elections but not for federal ones. With Democrats currently in control, recent advertisements actively encouraged illegal immigrants to fill out applications for ballots, warning them that without ID they would only be sent the federal ballot.

This was from the AHCCCS; Arizona Medicaid. The AHCCCS is sending out voter registration forms. In these forms in the instructions it states non citizens can vote on federal ballots. Pretty sure this is in violations of state and federal statutes and constitutions. pic.twitter.com/qqObcksZmW

— Ned Ryun (@nedryun) June 24, 2024

The 9th Circuit’s temporary stay requires those registering to vote in the state have to provide proof of citizenship for federal elections as well.

The Circuit Court in any case reversed the decision of a lower court, which had argued that the National Voter Registration Act preempted the need for proof of citizenship with respect to voting in federal elections in particular, even if the State of Arizona could still require it for state and local elections.

Arizona State Senate President Warren Petersen said the ruling was a victory for those who care about free and fair elections.

“Only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote in our elections,” he wrote in response.

“It sounds like common sense, but the radical left elected officials in our state continue to reject this notion, disrespecting the voices of our lawful Arizona voters.”

According to Petersen, however, the only way to adequately address the issue in the long run is for the United States Congress to act.

“We are grateful the court is upholding this provision in our law, and it’s time for Congress to take action to ensure only lawful U.S. citizens are voting in federal races,” he concluded.

Not all were pleased with the ruling. Progressive Arizona election lawyer Jim Barton called the ruling “bad news,” because it may mean lower voter turnout if only citizens can vote.

Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

At the beginning of the year, I not only laid out 24 stocks that I would be watching for the year based on what I thought the macro environment would do, but I also detailed gold and miners as what I would buy if I had to narrow things down to one trade only.

It’s been a great first six months for this potential trade, with the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) up about 24% and the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) ETF up about 19%, roughly the same as spot gold which opened January at $2062 and now sits over $2470.

I was reading the news last night and, taking into account how odd trading in the market has been over the last two sessions, I presented myself with the same question:

If I had to put on one trade right now for the rest of the year and narrow it down to one position, what would I do?

I think the answer is simply that it would be long volatility or long the VIX in some way right now. Not only are we simply due for an enormous spike in the VIX, but there’s also no shortage of catalysts that can make it happen over the next six months, in my opinion.

We took the next step in the President Joe Biden freak show yesterday when, just six hours after President Biden said he would consider dropping out of the race if a medical condition emerged, he “coincidentally” announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19 later in the evening. Then, despite testing positive, Biden was seen walking around without a mask on. And you guys wonder why I write entire articles dedicated to the Democratic party’s inability to finesse their strategies…

Regardless, after a week or two of Biden appearing as though he may have once gaian firmed up his grip on the nomination, especially given the news regarding Trump’s assassination attempt usurping the news cycle, it once again appears as though his party is turning on him.

Politico was out with an article yesterday saying that the Democratic Party, led by Nancy Pelosi, is ‘convinced Biden will lose’. Democratic leaders like Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries are all now reported to have suggested that Biden step aside. And, in a crucial difference, headlines started to break late last night and early this morning that Biden was “receptive” to the idea and had queried his team as to whether or not Vice President Airhead had a better shot of beating Donald Trump in the general election than he did

Also politically, although I have publicly encouraged otherwise, the temperature surrounding the Donald Trump assassination attempt continues to have everybody in the country on guard.

With five months left until the election, it is only common sense to believe that other “surprise” political news could emerge. Except, this time when it does, the country will already be in a heightened state of alert due to the events of the last week. This makes it more likely than normal that we would see volatility related to the upcoming election, in my opinion.

🔥 50% OFF FOR LIFE: Zero Hedge readers take 50% off a Fringe Finance annual subscription for life by using this link: ZH50

On top of that, the stock market as a whole is starting to show signs of weak knees, as I’ve been predicting would happen as a result of interest rate hikes for the better part of the last two years. One sign of approaching volatility in markets isn’t always that stocks go down quickly, but that they sometimes swing wildly both up and down—something we saw this week after the Dow 700+ points in one day, only to see tech stocks collapse the most since 2022 in the next session.

The rotation from technology to industrial stocks and boring value stocks that I talked about just days ago in my portfolio review appears to be taking place. Check out the 6% divergence all of a sudden over the last two sessions.

Either way, this volatility in markets could continue not only as a result of said rotation, but also eventually as a result of the economy’s gears locking up and high-interest rates finally wreaking havoc. As we get closer and closer to the first rate cut, I continue to believe that this could be the ultimate “sell the news” event and could mark the beginning of a large correction in equity markets.

As a reminder, all of this is taking place at a time when the country has unsustainable levels of debt, a growing deficit, out of control spending and is entering a period of fiscal dominance.

On top of the election and the market, all of the standard risks I pointed out at the beginning of the year remain in place: you have President Biden creating turmoil by restricting Chinese chip manufacturers, we still have an emerging conflict between China and Taiwan, Israel is still engulfed in its conflict in the Middle East, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is still begging the United States for more money to perpetuate the country’s non-stop conflict with Russia.

Finally, we still have a wildcard with the BRICS nations potentially challenging the US dollar, and one of our closest allies in the dollar, Saudi Arabia, drifting away from the petrodollar. This is a catalyst that would likely take years to develop to a point where it would have a meaningful impact, but in my opinion, the gears are whirring away in the background, and just because we can’t see the consequences yet doesn’t mean that we should ignore this potential seismic change in progress.

For me, it’s just a numbers game. If I had to look at the trade that has the “most ways to win,” I’m not sure anything else right now has a better setup than being long volatility. Since COVID, the VIX has been trading systematically lower and lower while markets have done nothing but go higher and higher, both in defiance of a very risky macro environment. We are so overdue for a “CNBC anchor meltdown style market move lower” that it hurts.

QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

While Joe Biden is decidedly ‘dug in‘ and isn’t going anywhere, Democrats, the party of ‘democracy is on the ballot,’ are plotting a ‘loophole’ if Biden refuses to step aside or drop out of the race.

During a Friday morning Zoom call with 50 delegates, DNC delegate Elaine Kamarck said the apparent “loophole” allowing for such rebellion if convention-goers say they can no longer vote for their pledged candidate in “good conscience” despite picking them in primaries and caucuses.

Kamarck, who has been on the DNC’s Rules Committee for decades, informed the 50 delegates on the call that “there’s no such thing as Joe Biden releasing his delegates. And Joe Biden gets this.”

“I don’t know why the rest of the press doesn’t get it,” she said. –NY Post

According to the DNC’s rules, “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”

Kamarack said that the rules previously mandated that delegates have to vote for whoever they’re pledged to, however that changed after the 1980 convention in which Ted Kennedy and then-President Jimmy Carter were battling for the iron throne. Unlike the Republican party, Democrats can revolt at any time.

Apparently “Our Democracy” has been reduced to “focus groups” when the elites don’t like the outcome of free and fair primary elections. https://t.co/wTuPQNr8nw pic.twitter.com/QhgVpaBTio

— Wuhan Blitz Primary Swan (@TheWuhanClan) July 20, 2024

Given that Biden won nearly all the pledged delegates in the primary, those delegates can say that Biden no longer “reflect[s] the sentiments of those who elected them,” and can dump him at will.

“See, we’ve never had a situation quite like this where the primaries were over. Very clear-cut winner. And yet something was discovered unclosed, whatever you want to call it, after the end of the primaries that caused people to severely doubt whether or not their nominee should proceed,” she said.

In 2016, Democrats rigged the super delegate process in their primary to stop Bernie Sanders.

In 2024, they wouldn’t allow debates. Biden won the primary.

Now Biden is being forced out before the convention. Rich donors will select a new candidate.

The party of democracy.

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) July 18, 2024

The Friday call was led by Kamarck on behalf of Delegates Are Democracy, a new group which launched last week to inform delegates of their options before the Aug. 19-22 convention in Chicago. The group claims they weren’t formed to force Biden out. (Can they try not lying about one thing for once?)

One anonymous delegate on the Zoom call asked how they should proceed in an open convention, to which Kamarck replied that it would be “tough” to decide.

Everyone calling on Joe Biden to *stop running* without also calling on him to resign the presidency is engaged in an absurd level of cynicism.

If you can’t run, you can’t serve.

He should resign now.

— JD Vance (@JDVance1) July 20, 2024

“I would start with the people who voted for you to become a delegate, see what they think and see how they think you should proceed. You probably won’t have polling. That’s very good. You may have to rely on sort of national polling,” she said.

Nothing says democracy like holding a fake primary and then having donors handpick a nominee behind closed doors.

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) July 18, 2024

Such a revolt on the convention floor would ‘amount to a political earthquake toppling the commander in chief.’ 

One anonymous Democrat pushed back on the Post‘s assertion that this was a loophole.

“It’s not a loophole! That’s the process. You can vote for whoever you want,” they said, adding “I think it’s almost inevitable he drops out.”

The scale of a possible revolt is unclear, with the source saying he could imagine “very few” actually joining in if Biden forges ahead — particularly if former House Speaker Nancy Pelsoi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former President Barack Obama set aside their private misgivings following Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate performance.

But even an unsuccessful revolt could hurt Biden going into the Nov. 5 election against former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

“If it’s 10 or 100 or 200, people in the media will say, ‘Oh my God, it’s a massive defection,’” he added. -NY Post

“We are so f–ked,” one senior congressional Democrat told The Post.

As Victor Davis Hanson notes on X:

Never in modern presidential history has a political party staged a veritable inside coup to remove their current president from his ongoing candidacy for his party’s nomination and reelection.

Stranger still, the very elites and grandees, who now are using every imaginable means of deposing Biden as their nominee, are the very public voices that just weeks ago insisted that candidate Biden was “sharp as a tack” and “fit as a fiddle.” And they damned any who thought otherwise!

They are also the identical operators whose machinations ensured that there would not be an open Democratic primary. They demonized the few on the Left who weakly challenged Biden in the primaries. Yet now they will select a replacement candidate who likely never received a single primary vote.

Note further: Biden’s impending forced abdication is not because he is non compos mentis.

Rather, the inside move is due to Biden’s disastrous debate exposure that confirmed his dementia could no longer be disguised by a conspiracy of leftist politicos and media.

But far more importantly, the impetus for removal is driven by the admission that Biden is headed for a climactic November defeat.

Were Biden now ahead in the polls by five points, these same backroom machinists would be insisting that he was still Pericles.

Yet now Biden is being un-personed and Trotskyized, as we prepare the new groupthink narrative of his likely surrogate—a soon to be praised eloquent, mellifluous, and articulate Cicero-Harris.

How f*cked is our country when an 84 year old woman is leading a coup against the 82 year old president for being too old? pic.twitter.com/mvMdoXlnk6

— Harrison Krank (@HarrisonKrank) July 18, 2024

please save democracy Joe by denying what the people want and instead folding to Obama and the top donors https://t.co/eARqcO5DX9 pic.twitter.com/yK8DDM7jMW

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 20, 2024

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

When you look at Joe Biden, you are also getting a visual picture of what is happening to our economy as a whole.  Both have been getting artificially propped up for a long time, both are now sick once again, and both are starting to decline very rapidly at this point.  There is lots of speculation that Joe Biden is not going to be able to make it much longer, and of course the exact same thing could be said about the U.S. economy.  Sadly, the truth is that the clock won’t stop ticking and time is not on the side of either one of them.

On Wednesday, we learned that Joe Biden has once again tested positive for COVID…

President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 following an event Wednesday in Las Vegas, the White House confirmed.

This is the third time the president has tested positive for the virus. And Biden is not alone: the positivity rates for COVID-19 have been increasing recently, as have visits to the emergency department and deaths.

Biden, 81, is vaccinated and boosted and is “experiencing mild symptoms,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

The White House is trying to make it sound like this isn’t a big deal, but Biden certainly didn’t look like he was just “experiencing mild symptoms” when he arrived in Delaware on Wednesday night…

The 81-year-old – whose political future is in jeopardy due to his age – walked very slowly off Air Force One, pausing multiple times.

He then put on a mask on inside the black SUV that carted him off to his beach house in Rehoboth.

Biden also appeared to need some assistance as he slowly nudged himself into the car before the motorcade pulled away.

Of course this is happening at a time when speculation that Biden could drop out of the race has reached a fever pitch.

Axios is reporting that some “top Democrats” believe that Biden could make an announcement “as soon as this weekend”…

Several top Democrats privately tell us the rising pressure of party congressional leaders and close friends will persuade President Biden to decide to drop out of the presidential race, as soon as this weekend.

Personally, I don’t know if Biden is ready to throw in the towel quite yet.

But we shall see what happens.

Meanwhile, more bad economic news continues to pour in.

For example, we are being told that home eviction filings are way up all over the nation…

Home evictions are on the rise in several major cities nationwide as Americans continue to grapple with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Eviction filings over the past year are up more than 15% compared with the period before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 10 cities across the country, according to the Eviction Lab, a research unit at Princeton University. The Eviction Lab tracks 10 states and 34 cities.

However, the problem is noticeably worse in five cities, where the eviction rate is at least 30% higher than it was before the pandemic started.

Whether someone is seeking to rent or buy, housing costs have soared into unprecedented territory.

And this is one of the biggest reasons why so many Americans are so deeply frustrated with the economy right now.

According to Fox Business, the “median monthly housing payment for homebuyers in swing states” has risen 92 percent since the last presidential election…

The cost of buying a house has surged in recent years, as high mortgage rates and rising home prices put ownership out of reach for many Americans.

The problem is even worse for the millions living in key battleground states that could determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

New findings from Redfin show the combination of steep mortgage rates and elevated home prices has pushed the median monthly housing payment for homebuyers in swing states to an all-time high of $2,161 – a 92% increase from the 2020 election.

This is going to have an enormous impact on how people vote, and that is not good news for the Democrats at all.

At the same time, banking industry problems continue to mount and local branches continue to be shut down at a staggering pace…

US banks closed 28 branches across the country in just one week in July.

Wells Fargo, Bank of America and US Bank each closed eight locations in the last week.

The remaining locations were closed by Greenville Fed, Chase and Schaumberg Bank & Trust, who each closed one branch.

Watch the banking industry, because I believe that this will eventually become a huge story during the months ahead.

Retailers are permanently shutting down lots of locations too.  In fact Stop & Shop just announced that they will be closing 32 grocery stores…

Stop & Shop is closing 32 underperforming grocery stores across the US northeast as part of the company’s efforts to improve its financial performance.

Shoppers are also being squeezed by higher prices at the grocery store, with food prices experiencing modest upticks last month, according to the newest inflation report.

“Stop & Shop has evaluated its overall store portfolio and made the difficult decision to close underperforming stores to create a healthy base for the future growth of our brand,” said the chain’s president Gordon Reid in a release.

Needless to say, that isn’t even worth comparing to what Walgreens is getting ready to do.

The plan is to shutter more than 2,000 Walgreens locations before it is all over, and that is really bad news for those that have come to depend upon that chain…

Shoppers, it may be time to find a new pharmacy. Walgreens is closing up to a quarter of its 8,600 stores within the United States.

Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth recently explained to the Wall Street Journal on June 27 that the closures would focus on locations that aren’t profitable, too close to each other or stores struggling with theft.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning, because vast hordes are businesses are likely to go belly up during the coming years.

According to one recent survey, almost half of our small businesses are convinced that they will not survive “the current economic climate, ongoing inflation or another four years of Biden administration policies”…

Nearly half of 80,000 small businesses surveyed say they won’t survive the current economic climate, ongoing inflation or another four years of Biden administration policies, according to the survey conducted by RedBalloon and Public Square.

Their May Freedom Economy Index found that small businesses “remain in survival mode,” with 40% delaying paying bills to manage cash flow and 70 percent putting staffing plans on hold, neither hiring nor reducing staff, “the highest reading … over the past year,” the report states.

We are in far more trouble than most people realize.

I have been documenting the ups and downs of our inevitable economic decline for more than a decade, and now we have reached a stage where that decline is threatening to become an avalanche.

So I would encourage you to brace yourself for very hard times, because it has become clear that this is a story that is not going to end well.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

In the latest indicator of a glaring lack of security surrounding the Pennsylvania rally where a bullet came within inches or less of killing former President Trump, sources familiar with the investigation say would-be assassin Thomas Crooks flew a drone over the event site just a few hours before he opened fire. 

As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Crooks used the overflight to record footage of the rally layout on the grounds of the Butler Farm Show. His research of the facility began soon after the Trump campaign announced the event on July 3. He registered to attend on July 7, and soon thereafter, made the roundtrip drive of more than two hours from his Bethel Park home to recon the site in person. 

According to data from the drone, Crooks — who’s said to have been highly intelligent and tech-savvy — flew it on a pre-programmed path, an official who’d been briefed on the investigation told the New York Times. The Secret Service typically bans drone flights at secured sites; NBC News reports it’s unclear if such a prohibition was imposed at the rally. Conversely, the Secret Service usually requests FAA permission to deploy drones in restricted airspace such as the Trump rally, but did not on this occasion, according to the Times. 

This new development in the investigation adds a troubling new entry to an already damning timeline on the day of the shooting, which killed spectator Corey Comperatore and wounded two others. Crooks was identified as a suspicious individual more than an hour before he opened fire from a rooftop only about 450 feet from Trump’s podium. At the time, he’d already been observed in possession of a range finder and carrying a duffel bag. Later, he was spotted on a rooftop 20 minutes before all hell broke loose. 

The drone was found in Crooks’ Hyundai Sonata. Parked near the event, it also contained two crude explosive devices, a bulletproof vest and several 30-round magazines for the rifle he used in the attack. The homemade bombs had a receiver comparable to what’s used to ignite fireworks from a distance, the Journal’s sources said. In the months leading up to the assassination attempt, Crooks received a number of packages shipped to his house marked “hazardous materials.” 

On the day before the rally, Crooks spent several hours shooting on a rifle range at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, of which he was a member. Sources have told Fox News that Crooks used a DPMS AR-15 chambered in 5.56mm. His father bought it in 2013. 

On his last morning on Earth, Crooks bought a ladder at Home Depot at 9:30am; investigators don’t think he ended up using it. In the afternoon, he bought 50 rounds of ammunition. 

Investigators are reportedly still uncertain about Crooks’ specific motivation. His internet search history indicates he’d not only examined Trump’s campaign schedule, but also the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which starts on Aug 19. He also sought images of both Trump and President Biden. Officials have told federal lawmakers that Crooks had a hatred of politicians in general, and didn’t have a distinct political profile or ideology of his own. 

What will be the next damning detail to drop? 

Authored by Dr. John Fernley via DailySceptic.org,

The peak electricity demand in Britain is in the winter when we need to heat our homes, offices, shops, warehouses, factories etc. But in the winter solar farms produce almost no electricity in Britain. This is because it is dark for around 16 hours a day and when the Sun does appear it is weak and usually hidden behind thick cloud. Solar energy may make sense in some countries, for example the countries of North Africa, but building solar farms in Britain is completely brainless.

The new Energy Secretary Ed Milliband has just given the green light to the biggest solar farm in the U.K. He claims that building the Sunnica solar farm in East Anglia will “cut bills for families”. As is often the case with politicians, the opposite is true. Because solar farms produce almost no electricity in the winter there will need to be back-up electricity generation. So essentially two electricity generation facilities will have to be built and operated, one for the summer and one for the winter. This will increase electricity bills for families not cut them.

Subsidies to companies operating solar farms and wind farms is one of the reasons electricity bills in Britain are already amongst the highest in the world. We pay five times as much for our electricity as China and twice as much as the USA. The pain that these high bills cause British families is of no concern to the small group of eco-zealots in Government and the TV news who peddle scare stories about global warming and tell half-truths about the cost of renewables. They want Britain to be a world leader in Net Zero and don’t care about the price the rest of us have to pay for this utterly pointless ambition. Britain is responsible for only 1% of global CO2 emissions so even if we achieved Net Zero tomorrow it would have no measurable impact on global temperatures.

Household electricity prices worldwide in December 2023, by select country (in U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour). Source: Statista

Meanwhile the big CO2 emitters, like China (30% of global CO2 emissions) and the USA (10% of global CO2 emissions), move far more slowly towards Net Zero.

They continue to build and operate fossil-fuel power stations. Unlike solar farms and wind farms, these power stations are both cheap and reliable, they work every hour of every day summer and winter.

This is why the electricity bills for Chinese and American families are so much lower than the bills for British families.

Violence broke out in the northern England city of Leeds late this week with rioters overturning a police car and setting a double-decker bus on fire.

The riot is thought to have broken out after social services took four children away from a family in Harehills, an inner city area, at around 5pm on Thursday.

People in the Harehills area were urged to stay at home as officers were called to Luxor Street at about 5pm due to an “ongoing disturbance” involving agency workers and children, which was described as a “family matter”.

While the children were moved to a safe place, crowds gathered and the situation escalated, with objects thrown at police.

Shocking videos posted on social media showed a police car being toppled – before being attacked by people wielding a scooter, a pram and a bike – and a double-decker bus torched as multiple fires were set along the street.

Responding to footage of the unrest, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said:

“The politics of the subcontinent are currently playing out on the streets of Leeds. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Lee Anderson, the Reform MP for Ashfield, echoed Mr Farage’s argument on Friday morning as he condemned the “disgraceful scenes”.

“Import a third world culture, then you get third world behaviour,” he said.

“These animals need locking up for good. They are a product of our spineless namby-pamby establishment who have betrayed our great country.”

West Yorkshire Police said the disorder was “instigated by a criminal minority intent on disrupting community relations”, urging residents not to speculate on the cause.

As Paul Joseph Watson explains below, the UK experienced yet another taste of what ‘diversity being our greatest strength’ looks like in reality last night…