Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A New Mexico judge on June 28 denied actor Alec Baldwin’s request to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against him relating to the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of his film “Rust.”

Previously, Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers requested that the court dismiss the charge, arguing that the firearm involved in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was damaged during FBI forensic testing before defense attorneys could examine it.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer rejected the arguments, stating that Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers failed to establish that the firearm had “an exculpatory value that was apparent before the evidence was destroyed.”

“Rather, a significant amount of evidence indicates that the unaltered firearm did not possess apparent exculpatory value,” she stated in an 18-page ruling.

The judge referenced Mr. Baldwin’s statements to a New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau officer on Dec. 8, 2021, in which he claimed that “the problem didn’t have to do with the gun. It had to do with the bullet.”

“Further, prior to the accidental discharge testing, [FBI forensic examiner Bryce Ziegler] found the firearm to be fully operative and without modification,” the judge added.

Judge Sommer added that Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers also failed to establish that “the State acted in bad faith when destroying certain internal components of the firearm in the course of the accidental discharge testing.”

“In other words, the evidence before the Court does not demonstrate that the State or its agents knew that the unaltered firearm possessed exculpatory value at the time of the accidental discharge testing, and nonetheless destroyed it, thereby indicating that the evidence may have exonerated the Defendant,” she stated.

The judge also ruled that prosecutors must fully disclose to the jury “the destructive nature of the firearm testing, the resulting loss, and its relevance and import.”

Mr. Baldwin is set to stand trial in July.

Ms. Hutchins was killed after a gun Mr. Baldwin was handling discharged on set on Oct. 21, 2021. He has pleaded not guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.

Sheriff’s investigators initially sent the revolver to the FBI for routine testing, but when an FBI analyst heard Mr. Baldwin say in an ABC TV interview that he never pulled the trigger, the agency told local authorities they could conduct an accidental discharge test, though it might damage the gun.

The FBI was told by a team of investigators to go ahead, and tested the revolver by striking it from several angles with a rawhide mallet. One of those strikes fractured the gun’s firing and safety mechanisms.

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the shooting and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate with former President Trump on Thursday has led leftist corporate media to publish headlines calling for the elderly president to step aside.

Unprecedented headlines in the US media, as pressure mounts on President Biden to quit. pic.twitter.com/h9mAtGIvIp

— InsideNK/GeoPolitics (@inside_nk) June 29, 2024

Major US newspapers are calling for Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race. Here’s what other headlines are saying 👉 https://t.co/9O8OcvrOAg pic.twitter.com/9prq42PSwg

— The Daily Telegraph (@dailytelegraph) June 29, 2024

Although there is no evidence that Biden is willing to end his presidential campaign, some corporate media outlets have suggested replacements, such as California Governor Gavin Newsom.

However, Gov. Newsom is probably one of the worst possible candidates. The entire nation has watched the radical leftist governor transform California into a socialist hellhole over the years characterized by rampant lawlessness, widespread homelessness, an affordability crisis, and a poor economic climate with high taxes. 

The latest issue in the Golden State has been out-of-control youth reenacting scenes of the video game ‘Grand-Theft-Auto’ through wild street takeovers.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, at least 50 vehicles were involved in a street takeover in downtown Los Angeles early Saturday morning. 

Videos of the chaos were uploaded on X. They show multiple cars engulfed in flames. 

NEW: Multiple vehicles burst into flames at a ‘Street Takeover’ event in downtown Los Angeles after 400-500 people blocked off the street.

What lovely people who contribute so much to our society.

According to the Citizen app, multiple vehicles “exploded” thanks to nitrous… pic.twitter.com/fIOIScCdTu

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 29, 2024

Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de Leon told CBS News that street takeovers are unacceptable, adding, “It angers me, because it puts other people in danger.” 

The lack of law and order in the state suggests Gov. Newsom has a very limited shot against Trump.

Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics,

Amid the Democrats’ chaotic meltdown over President Biden’s Thursday night debate performance, one image stood out: A shrewd observer on X.com posted a video of a baseball pitcher just off the field dramatically engaged in big, arm-circle warm-ups.

“Gavin stretching in the bullpen,” the observer commented.

The pithy remark itself wasn’t too much of a stretch. Gavin Newsom, in fact, was already on deck, albeit figuratively. Before the debate, the photogenic 56-year-old California governor with the slick hair and silver tongue worked the pre-debate spin room as Biden’s top surrogate. And, after the year-long rumors that he could step in to replace the president as the nominee if Biden’s deteriorating health or performance should force Biden to step aside, Newsom had mastered his response to the persistent questions about it.

Asked about whether Biden should step down, Newsom appeared irritated. “Do you think it’s unfounded?” an MSNBC reporter asked him.

“I think it’s unhelpful – and I think it’s unnecessary,” Newsom replied. “We’ve got to keep our head high, and as I say, we’ve got to have the back of this president. You don’t turn your back because of one performance. What kind of party does that?”

Talking to reporters in the post-debate “spin room,” Newsom maintained that his party “could not be more wholly united behind Biden” and argued the president should not step aside. Despite Newsom’s protests, the intra-party conversations already had shifted – possibly irrevocably.

“Biden managed to change the narrative tonight – he sunk his campaign,” declared CNN’s Chris Wallace.

Right after the debate, MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace acknowledged that frank conversations were occurring among party leaders and inside Biden’s circle about whether the president should “be in this race tomorrow morning.”

One senior Democratic operative told RCP he and his colleagues were rattled to the core and expressed concern that even the cable network most sympathetic to the president was discussing whether the party should replace him on the ticket.

The person next in line wasn’t having any of it. Like Newsom, Vice President Kamala Harris swatted away questions about Biden’s performance – and wouldn’t go near talk of succession.

“Yes, it was a slow start, but it was a strong finish,” she said. “And what became very clear through the course of the debate is that [the president] is fighting on behalf of the American people. On substance, on policy, on performance, Joe Biden is extraordinarily strong.”

But the doubts were not so easily dispelled, and even MSNBC engaged in a post-debate discussion about a contested Democratic Party convention.

Referring to the convention math needed to replace him, anchor Joy Reid said someone sent her the party nomination rules.

Consistent Trump critic Nicole Wallace confirmed: “The rules are circulating.”

Yet, changing horses this late in the race, with just five months left, is a daunting, if not impossible, task. Party rules essentially prohibit it without the nominee’s consent, and Biden has repeatedly sworn off stepping down. Moreover, there’s no smooth path to doing so even if the party can coalesce around an alternative – and no consensus over who would play the role of party savior.

The most immediate problem is that polls show Kamala Harris’ job approval ratings are no better than Biden’s. Bypassing her for, say, Newsom would face an obvious obstacle: How could the modern Democratic Party, which champions diversity, equity, and inclusion, cast aside a woman whose heritage is African American and Asian? No matter how telegenic and articulate he may be, the intra-party critique writes itself: Gavin Newsom is a privileged white male from the same state – and same city – as Kamala Harris. Are the Democratic delegates really going to cast her aside because Biden is too old?

Moreover, any switcheroo now would inevitably provoke charges from the Democratic Party’s liberal base that party elites were overturning the results against the voters’ will. Intra-party resentment is still lingering from the 2016 primaries when supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders argued that the party leaders were rigging the election in favor of Hillary Clinton. In 2024, Biden captured nearly all of the primary delegates – 99%.

Still, rules do exist for switching nominees if the party’s nominee is incapacitated or opts to step aside. Biden may decide it’s time to do so, considering the constant second-guessing he will inevitably endure if he remains on the trail. He would, of course, have the option of serving out the final months of his term in the White House, as Lyndon Johnson did in 1968.

Theoretically, at least, a rancorous intra-party battle could take place at the August convention in Chicago, though it could set off a free-for-all among Democrats.

Along with Newsom and Harris, possible contenders circulating Thursday night include Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. If Michelle Obama should suddenly shed her long-held distaste for partisan politics, Democratic leaders might jump at the chance to coronate the dynamic former first lady as the rightful heir to the Obama legacy. Such a choice would also help blunt charges that the party ditched Harris, a black woman, over her poor approval ratings.

In such a free-wheeling and desperate political environment, anything is possible, and deals can be made. Months before the debate, reports surfaced that Harris was open to succeeding Newsom as governor if Biden lost the election and she was out of a job. Party leaders could present that as another option, although dangling a future Supreme Court or attorney general position may be more enticing for Harris.

Harris and Newsom, often considered to have a “sibling rivalry” relationship of sorts, operated in the same political circles and shared the same political consultant. (They also have the same mentor in former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.) The two made a pact many years ago. Harris decided to pursue an open Senate seat, and Newsom chose to run for governor.

The two ambitious pols have also strived to demonstrate there’s no animosity between them – at least on the surface. For instance, Newsom asked Harris to administer his oath of office when he was sworn in as lieutenant governor for the second time in 2015.

However, that cordial détente could disintegrate at any moment if the party determines Biden needs to be replaced, and they are both instantly jockeying for the job.

“It’s been a cold war so far this election for sure,” Rob Stutzman, who served as chief of staff to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, told RCP last week, noting that it could quickly become a hot war if the two have to vie against one another. “If Biden loses, there is a lot of speculation that Harris will come back and run to succeed Gavin versus trying to run for president.”

Considering the fraught political dynamics of two California Democrats best positioned to replace Biden, party leaders could theoretically decide to sidestep that problem altogether and set up 2016 instead of a 2020 rematch.

Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker predicted in early June that worries about Biden’s age would galvanize support for replacing him – and suggested Hillary Clinton as a prime candidate.

A few days before the debate, Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democratic leader, poured cold water on that scenario.

“No, I don’t think [Hillary Clinton is] likely to run again,” he told The Hill newspaper.

But Durbin, at the time, also called stories about Biden stepping aside this summer or fall “bizarre.”

What a difference a few days and a debate debacle make.

Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.

A brand new study from McKinsey has revealed that nearly half of Americans who own EVs want to go back to traditional gas powered vehicles. 

Apparently trillions of dollars in ‘green’ taxpayer-backed global subsidies over the last decade are no match for good ole’ fashioned common sense and free markets. Go figure.

Speaking to Automotive News, Philipp Kampshoff, leader of the consulting firm’s Center for Future Mobility said: “I didn’t expect that. I thought, ‘Once an EV buyer, always an EV buyer.’ ”

The study found that over 40% of U.S. electric vehicle owners are likely to buy a combustion engine car next. 

Charging concerns are a major hindrance to EV adoption, with 29% of global EV owners considering a switch, rising to 46% in the U.S. Consumers cite inadequate public charging infrastructure, high ownership costs, and impacts on long-distance travel as key issues.

These concerns align with the slow rollout of the U.S. National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. Only eight stations are operational, and 23 states have started using funds from the $5 billion federal program as of May, according to EVAdoption.

The U.S. isn’t alone in facing EV charging challenges. Only 9% of global respondents find the public-charging infrastructure adequate. This issue is set to grow, as future EV buyers will depend more on public charging, according to Kampshoff.

McKinsey’s survey highlights include:

• 21% of global respondents never want to switch to an EV, with 33% citing charging concerns.
• Range expectations have increased from 270 miles in 2022 to 291.4 miles today, outpacing current EV offerings.

McKinsey’s biennial survey, released on June 12, included around 200 questions to over 30,000 consumers in 15 countries, covering over 80% of global sales. The survey shows a slight increase in willingness to consider EVs, with 38% of non-EV owners eyeing a plug-in hybrid or full electric for their next vehicle, up from 37% in 2022.

Consumer preferences for EVs, plug-ins, and combustion powertrains, coupled with evolving global regulations, complicate planning for the auto industry and its supply chain.

Kevin Laczkowski, global co-lead of McKinsey’s automotive and assembly practice, concluded: “OEMs and suppliers now have to invest in multiple technologies. This is the ultimate uncertainty right now, like almost never before.”
 

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

The presidential debate last night was chilling to watch as President Joe Biden clearly struggled to retain his focus and, at points, seemed hopelessly confused. The winner was clear: Special Counsel Robert Hur. For months, Democrats in Congress and the media have attacked Hur for his report that the president came across as an “elderly man with a poor memory.” Hur concluded that prosecuting Biden would be difficult because a jury would view him as a sympathetic figure of a man with declining mental capabilities. That was evident last night and the question is whether a man who was too diminished to be a criminal defendant can still be a president for four more years.

Hur laid out evidence that President Biden had unlawfully retained and mishandled classified evidence for decades. However, he also concluded that “at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” He found that “it would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him—by then a former president well into his eighties—of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

What has followed is the usual pile-on in the media with legal analysts, press, and pundits denouncing Hur for his findings.

Hur likely does not anticipate any apologies even as commentators on CNN and MSNBC admit that there are now unavoidable questions of Biden’s ability to be the nominee.

Democrats have repeatedly insisted that Hur did not find Biden diminished and that he actually was impressed by his memory and mental acuity. Hur contradicted that in his own testimony before Congress.

Indeed, the denial campaign took on a bizarre character, particularly when Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.) insisted that Hur “exonerated” Biden. Hur pushed back:“I need to go back and make sure that I take note of a word that you used, ‘exoneration.’ That is not a word that is used in my report and that is not a part of my task as a prosecutor.”

Jayapal shot back, “You exonerated him.”

Hur responded, “I did not exonerate him. That word does not appear in the report.”

The debate also further undermines the ridiculous effort of the Biden Administration to continue to withhold the audiotape of the Hur interview as privileged (despite saying that the transcript is not privileged).

The debate showed not only what Hur saw but why the Justice Department is making a clearly laughable privilege claim to delay any release of the audiotape until after the election.

Following Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance last Thursday, top Democrats who have been openly supporting the president’s 2024 campaign are privately pushing for him to step out of the race.

According to one source cited by Axios, his family can close advisors are meeting today at Camp David to decide whether to move forward or end his campaign early.

Which brings our attention to Vice President Kamala Harris – who polls even worse than Biden in a matchup against former President Donald Trump, according to RealClearPolling.

Following last Thursday’s debate, Harris quickly took to the air to defend her running mate’s record and ability to perform his duties – however according to The Hill she has also been central to conversations among some Democrats over whether Biden should step aside – putting her at the top of the ticket in November.

Harris – whose most notable failure as ‘border czar’ would certainly come under scrutiny in a Trump vs. Harris election, must now seek to reassure Democrats about their party’s chances of success.

“The next 30 days it may be up to her to make the case. People will be looking to her and testing her to see if she’s ready,” one Democratic donor told the outlet.

Another Democrat who served in the Obama White House said that Harris “clearly has a purpose now to make the case for what they have accomplished,” adding “This is the transitional moment where both she and Biden have their hands on the baton, but clearly she will be needed to complete the race.”

Many Democrats quickly panned Biden’s showing and raised the idea that he should step aside ahead of the party’s August convention.

That left Harris to defend her running mate on the same networks where anchors and pundits were discussing the prospect of Biden leaving the ticket.

“People can debate on style points, but ultimately this election and who is the president of the United States has to be about substance,” said Harris, who conceded Biden had a “slow start.” 

The vice president was not asked about, nor did she address, the elephant in the room: That she would be the likeliest candidate to replace Biden should he step aside. -The Hill

On Friday, Harris’ team dismissed the notion that the Democratic ticket won’t include Biden.

“Vice President Harris looks forward to serving a second term with President Joe Biden,” said Harris spokesman Ernie Apreza in a statement.

Harris, who launched her career as former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown’s side-piece, ran for President in 2019 – dropping out before the Iowa caucuses due to polling in the single digits and reports that she treats her staff like shit.

“This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly,” said former staffer Kelly Mehlenbacher in a blistering resignation letter.

Should Biden step aside, Democratic strategists have downplayed the notion of an open convention – arguing that Harris would be the logical choice, and warning of the risks of passing over a black woman already on the ticket for another candidate such as California Governor Gavin Newsom – who would be viewed as a ‘white male savior’ inserted into the race.

As Vice President, Harris has been an abject disaster – failing miserably as Biden’s ‘border czar’ who presided over the influx of tens of millions of illegal migrants flooding into the United States. She’s also failed at criminal justice reform, voting rights legislation, and administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Harris also met with Central American leaders to address the root causes of migration, which did not result in any significant policy changes or improvements in the situation.

And again, she’s polling worse than Biden vs. Trump.

A February New York Times/Siena College poll found Harris trailing Trump among likely voters in a hypothetical matchup by 6 percentage points, 42 percent to 48 percent. She fared only slightly worse than Biden, who at the time trailed Trump in that survey by 4 percentage points, 44 percent to 48 percent.

The same poll found 38 percent of likely voters had a favorable view of Harris, compared to 54 percent who had an unfavorable view of her. -The Hill

In short, Democrats are in a DEI trap of their own design, unburdened by a competent candidate.

Kamala Harris is unburdened. pic.twitter.com/etyLch4JO8

— MAZE (@mazemoore) April 26, 2023

Via The Epoch Times,

Voters across mainland France have begun casting ballots Sunday in the first round of exceptional parliamentary elections that could put France’s government in the hands of nationalist parties.

The outcome of the two-round elections, which will wrap up on July 7, could impact European financial markets, Western support for Ukraine, and how France’s nuclear arsenal and global military force are managed.

Many French voters are frustrated about inflation and economic concerns, as well as President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership, which they see as arrogant and out-of-touch with their lives. Marine Le Pen’s nationalist National Rally party has dominated all pre-election opinion polls.

A new coalition on the left, the New Popular Front, is also posing a challenge to Mr. Macron and his centrist alliance Together for the Republic.

There are 49.5 million registered voters who will choose 577 members of the National Assembly, France’s influential lower house of parliament, during the two-round voting.

Turnout at midday at the first round stood at 25.9 percent according to interior ministry figures, which is higher from the 2022 legislative elections at this time of the day. It was 18.43 percent at midday two years ago.

Mr. Macron voted at a polling station in Le Touquet, a small seaside town in northern France, along with his wife, Brigitte Macron. Earlier, Ms. Le Pen cast her ballot in her party’s stronghold in northern France.

The vote takes place during the traditional first week of summer vacation in France, and absentee ballot requests were at least five times higher than in the 2022 elections.

After a blitz campaign, voting began early in France’s overseas territories, and polling stations opened in mainland France at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) Sunday. The first polling projections are expected at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), when the final polling stations close, and early official results are expected later Sunday night.

Voters who turned out in person at a Paris polling station said issues from immigration to inflation and the rising cost of living were on their minds.

“People don’t like what has been happening,” said Cynthia Justine, a 44-year-old voter. “People feel they’ve lost a lot in recent years. People are angry. I am angry.”

Mr. Macron called the early elections after his party was trounced in the European Parliament election earlier in June by the National Rally.

Pre-election polls suggested that the National Rally party is gaining support and has a chance at winning a parliamentary majority. In that scenario, Mr. Macron would be expected to name 28-year-old National Rally President Jordan Bardella as prime minister in a power-sharing system known as “cohabitation.”

While Mr. Macron has said he won’t step down before his presidential term expires in 2027, cohabitation would weaken him at home and on the world stage.

The results of the first round will give a picture of overall voter sentiment, but not necessarily of the overall makeup of the next National Assembly. Predictions are extremely difficult because of the complicated voting system, and because parties will work between the two rounds to make alliances in some constituencies or pull out of others.

The party has also questioned the right to citizenship for people born in France and wants to curtail the rights of French citizens with dual nationality.

In the restive French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, polls closed at 5 p.m. local time due to an 8 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew that authorities on the archipelago have extended until July 8.

Violence there flared on May 13, leaving nine people dead after two weeks of unrest, due to attempts by Mr. Macron’s government to amend the French Constitution and change voting lists in New Caledonia, which the Indigenous Kanaks feared would further marginalize them. They have long sought to break free from France, which first took the Pacific territory in 1853.

Voters in France’s other overseas territories from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, French Polynesia, and those voting in offices opened by embassies and consular posts across the Americas cast their ballots on Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Hurricane Beryl formed in the Atlantic Basin this weekend and is forecasted to strengthen into a category-four hurricane as it barrels through the southeast Caribbean in the coming days. 

“Hurricane Beryl is expected to be an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane when it reaches the Windward Islands early Monday,” the National Hurricane Center wrote in a message on Sunday. 

On Sunday morning, Beryl was located about 465 miles from Barbados, packing winds in excess of 100 mph and moving west at 21 mph. The storm is rated as a Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale and could rapidly intensify to Category 4  status. 

Hurricane warnings have been posted for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

“Only five major (Category 3+) hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July. Beryl would be the sixth and earliest this far east in the tropical Atlantic,” hurricane expert Michael Lowry wrote on X. 

Breaking: Hurricane Beryl is intensifying at a rate unprecedented in our historical archives for so early in the season. Records date back to 1851.

It may become the first June Atlantic Category 4 on record.

There exists a strong climate link. https://t.co/WzhDEvyt39 pic.twitter.com/ufnKJs6tsO

— Matthew Cappucci (@MatthewCappucci) June 30, 2024

Beryl is expected to pass south of Barbados early Monday and then head into the Caribbean Sea as a major hurricane on a path toward Jamaica. The storm will weaken by the end of the week but remain a hurricane as it churns toward the Yucatán Peninsula. 

The ECMWF Ensemble and GEFS Ensemble shed more color on Beryl’s potential future track. These models indicate that the storm’s potential track could shift north after landfall around the Yucatán Peninsula and, after that, move towards the US Gulf Coast, where major refineries are located.

ECMWF Ensemble

GEFS Ensemble

And there’s activity behind Beryl. 

We now have Invest 96 behind Beryl. Following in the footsteps for awhile. Some initial spaghetti models are out. I am sure these will change but its an early idea. https://t.co/Hk3pbO7x8H pic.twitter.com/SImOlJbCNh

— Mike’s Weather Page (@tropicalupdate) June 30, 2024

We have pointed out that this hurricane season, the Biden administration must contend with an elevated number of storms. It only takes one major storm to disrupt Gulf Coast refineries, which would catapult average gasoline prices at the pump to the politically sensitive $4 a gallon before the elections this fall.

Via SchiffGold.com,

While the Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies are publicized as protecting the American people, they are causing the American dream of homeownership to slip away. By raising the federal funds rate to combat their self-inflicted inflation, the Fed has driven up mortgage costs, making it harder for aspiring homeowners to secure a place in the housing market. These policies have resigned aspiring homeowners to a future of perpetual renting.

At the beginning of 2022, the federal funds rate was 0.08%. As of June 2024, that number is 5.33%. The rate hike was in response to the rampant inflation of previous years. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 7.0% in 2021 and 6.5% in 2022, far exceeding the Fed’s 2% target. This spike was caused by the trillion-dollar infrastructure bills, COVID stimulus packages, and other imprudent government expenditures that had motivated the FED to increase the money supply. This inflation erodes purchasing power, increasing the cost of living for millions of Americans. With the economy in this desperate state, the FED attempted to counteract it with a federal funds rate surge. While increasing this rate is a proven tool to combat inflation, it is not without cost to consumers.

The federal funds rate is the interest rate banks lend each other overnight. It effectively sets the interest rate floor for the economy. When the FED increases this rate, it creates a chain reaction that increases borrowing costs for everyone, including those seeking mortgages. In response to the federal funds rate hike, the 2021 mortgage rate of 2.65% skyrocketed to 7.74% in June 2024.

This surge is devastating for potential homebuyers. Higher mortgage rates reduce what potential homeowners can afford. More of their monthly payment goes towards interest rather than principal, drastically affecting their buying power. For every 1% increase in mortgage rates, a buyer’s purchasing power decreases by approximately 13.80%. This means that a potential buyer who could previously afford a $750,000 home may now only qualify for a $646,500 home, assuming a fixed amount for a down payment.

This pushes previously affordable homes out of reach for many buyers and slows the housing market. According to the National Association of Realtors, the Housing Affordability Index dropped from 148.2 in 2021 to 98.2 in 2023, indicating a significant decrease in the ability of a median-income family to afford a median-priced home. This decline in affordability has led to a slowdown in home sales, with existing home sales falling from 6.12 million in 2021 to 4.09 million in 2023.

For borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), the impact of federal funds rate hikes is even more direct. The federal funds rate influences the financial indices to which ARMs are tied. As the rate increases, so does the index, leading to higher monthly payments for ARM holders. This process creates financial strain for borrowers who didn’t anticipate such increases when they initially took out their loans.

Federal funds rate hikes have also had broader economic implications. The housing market is a crucial driver of economic activity, influencing everything from construction and real estate services to consumer spending on household goods. Housing-related activities typically account for 15-18% of GDP and the recent downturn has affected various sectors. For instance, new housing starts declined from 1.61 million in 2021 to 1.41 million in 2023, reflecting the cooling effect of higher rates on construction activity. When mortgage rates climb and home buying slows, these sectors experience a downturn, rippling throughout the economy.

Raising the federal funds rate is one of the FED’s classic inflation reduction methods. However, the root of the problem is the source of the inflation. Wasteful government spending and expansionary monetary policy were the origin of the crisis. The current regime believes frivolous expenditures and printing money won’t lead to negative consequences. But for the millions of Americans struggling to buy a home, or crushed by the crippling cost of living, these policies are far from benign. For rich politicians whose financial futures are set, the gravity of the situation may not be evident. But for homeless, hungry Americans, the time for action is now.

For those in the alternative media that have been tracking Joe Biden’s strange behavior over the past few years without putting on blinders, his recent performance at the first presidential debate was not surprising in the slightest.  However, the establishment media has spent the better part of Biden’s first term creating an endless web of lies surrounding his mental health and committed the worst of all propagandist blunders:  Believing their own disinformation.

This faux pas has led to an atmosphere of shock and panic from media pundits as they now scramble to figure out which narrative to go with as the Democratic National Convention approaches in Chicago, IL in August.  The Dems now have a few weeks to decide if they are going to triple down on Joe Biden as a competent candidate, or, replace him at the last minute with someone less embarrassing but with very little time to campaign (making the Dems look incompetent anyway). 

Watch as Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ bicker over which direction public perception should be molded in light of Biden’s terrible performance.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s on-air tiff about Biden’s disastrous debate😂

Mika: “Everybody calm down, it’s fine to not spin what happened last night.”

Joe: “By the way Mika, everybody’s calm here, you’re the only one raising your voice…I said these were questions… pic.twitter.com/vTyPQoQWQH

— Eddie (@Eddies_X) June 28, 2024

This is, of course, assuming that decision hasn’t already been made behind closed doors.  There are those that believe the powers-that-be never intended to run Biden for another term and that they’re throwing him to the wolves only to have a younger proxy come in and “re-energize” the political left.  What is relatively certain at this point according to the polls and according to the general public reaction to the debate is that if Biden runs in November, he will lose.

On the other side of the leftist divide are the true cultists, the commentators and media pundits and “fact checkers” that refuse to say die.  They will defend Biden to the very end, simply because they have nothing else to cling to and barely two brain cells to rub together.  Example?  Check out our favorite clucking hive of mentally disabled hens at The View; they argue that the event was somehow skewed against Biden and that he is actually quite coherent when he’s not on the debate stage.

Joy Behar of The View suggests the debate was skewed against Joe and that’s why he performed so poorly

Joe literally made all the conditions for the debate and it was held by his friends in the media

You can’t make this up 🤣 pic.twitter.com/pnvoOw7xLE

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 28, 2024

In the meantime, the media “fact checkers” are on a rampage trying to sweep up after Biden’s mess, claiming that Donald Trump ‘lied profusely’ throughout the debate.  But as usual their fact checking relies on logical fallacies, strawman arguments and distractions from what Trump actually said.  For example, when Trump stated that he had the most secure border in US history, The Guardian fact checkers claimed that the migrant surge started on Trump’s watch in 2020.  This is false.  In 2020 illegal border crossings plunged, primarily because of Title 42 and the removal of amnesty incentives for illegals.  The surge started in 2021 under Biden.

It’s dishonest fact checking like this that is pushing more and more Americans over to the conservative side.  Most Americans know the media has an obvious bias in favor of Joe Biden – Even Democrats are acknowledging this and they’re starting to wonder if that bias is going to destroy them in the end.  

Sadly, there are some the GOP that still don’t get what is happening.  There are already calls for Biden to be removed from office under the 25th Amendment, but why push for him to be replaced right before he’s about to be crushed in November?  What is that famous saying from ‘The Art Of War’?  “Don’t interrupt your enemy while he’s in the middle of making a mistake…”