WHO KNOWS? How Credible Is the 2025Q1 GDP Decline? “It is hard to believe that the U.S. economy can be slowing when aggregate wage income and inflation-adjusted consumer spending are still rising reasonably briskly. Yet the official data suggest that the combination of defense cuts, the unwinding of election-related spending, and a modest decline in construction activity all contributed to a notable slowdown in 2025Q1.”

I mean, I don’t know but “official data” haven’t been super-reliable.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Failing on every front, is higher education still sustainable today?

IT’S AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN FIND IF YOU JUST LOOK: ICE arrests Russian national accused of being member of Al Qaeda.

The 39-year-old man detained on May 23 was born in Tajikistan and is a fugitive who is wanted overseas, ICE announced this week.

“Arresting individuals linked to terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda reaffirms our unwavering commitment to safeguard the homeland,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia Field Office Director Brian McShane said in a statement.

“Through close collaboration with our outstanding partners at the FBI, we have taken decisive action to make our communities safer and prevent potential threats to the American people,” he added.
…
“It is alleged that he is or was a member of Al-Qaeda,” ICE said. “After his arrest, this individual was detained in ICE custody, where he will remain pending removal from the U.S.”

The Biden Cabal was just fine with him staying as long as he liked and doing whatever he liked.

LIMITED TIME DEAL: Carhartt Men’s Force Relaxed Fit Midweight Short-Sleeve Pocket T-Shirt. #CommissionEarned

MATT TAIBBI: The Memory-Holing of Everything, Even George Orwell: From democracy to vaccines to election results to Orwell himself, the rewriting of the past to fit current attitudes has become an incurable mania.

TONI AIRAKSINEN: How Columbia Hamas Supporters Led Me To Convert to Judaism.

Related: Education Department informs major accreditor that Columbia violates federal law, accreditation standards.

WELL, THE WASHINGTON POST: Washington Post Article Stresses the Library of Congress’s Name, but Largely Ignores Judicial Precedent that treats the Library of Congress as an Executive Branch department as to Presidential removal of the Librarian.

PLEASE, STOP — I CAN’T SUPPORT HIM MORE THAN I ALREADY DO: Uh-Oh! China Isn’t Happy With Marco Rubio.

FROM CELIA HAYES:  West Toward the Sunset.

#CommissionEarned

It’s the year 1846, and Sally Kettering is just twelve years old. Her parents have decided to sell their farm in rural Ohio and go west … west to California. Sally and her six-year old brother Jon must leave everything they knew – friends, kinfolk and the little town where they had lived all their lives so far. Pa and Ma Kettering packed what they could take into a single covered wagon, and they set out to follow a trail through the wilderness west, along with a party of other families and adventurers. Unknown dangers lay around every bend of the trail … wild animals, wilder Indians … Indians who might be hostile or friendly, and no way to know for certain … treacherous river crossings, trackless deserts, and jagged, dangerous mountain passes.
And still, the Kettering family and their friends boldly set out … following the trail that led west toward the sunset!

IT’S MORE COMPLICATED THAN IT SHOULD BE, BUT THE SYSTEM ISN’T DESIGNED TO MAKE SPENDING CUTS EASY: Why Doesn’t the Big Beautiful Bill Cut the Budget More? A Defense.

HAD ISRAEL BEEN INTENT ON GAZAN GENOCIDE THIS WAR WOULD HAVE BEEN OVER OCT. 14:  BBC Doubles Down on Libelous Claim Against IDF.

THE CBO IS THE TOOL OF THE PARTY OF GOVERNMENT: Does no one remember their lies about Obamacare?  Enough of the CBO’s Fearmongering About Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’.

Abolish the CBO. We have enough people who lie to us for free.

ALL THEY HAVE IS LIES:  Fact Check: Democrats Won’t Stop Lying About the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’.

THE PARTY OF GREATER GOVERNMENT THROWS A TANTRUM:  Top Democrat Vows to Dox ICE Agents Because of Overreach or Something.

AGAIN, THE LEFT SHOWS WHERE ITS HEART IS:  Colorado Judge Blocks Trump From Deporting Terror Suspect’s Family.

TURNS OUT HUMANS, ALL HUMANS, ARE REALLY BAD AT LONG TERM PLANNING:  But the enemies of freedom are the worst.  I Meant To Do That.

YOU DON’T HATE JOURNALISTS ENOUGH:  Washington Post is Mystified by Decline in Fentanyl Seizures at Southern Border.

HEY, TOM, THAT’S MY SHOCKED FACE:  Mind you, he’s talking about California’s train to nowhere, so he needs it.  Where did I put that shocked face?

WELL DONE. I STILL WANT IT ABOLISHED, BUT WELL DONE:  U.S. Department of Education Notifies Columbia University’s Accreditor of Columbia’s Title VI Violation.

START UP THE CHAINSAW!  GOP senator says there’s an ‘appetite for more spending reductions’ on ‘big beautiful bill’.

CHARLIE MARTIN WOULD SAY THIS IS NOT TREASON. AND HE’S RIGHT: It is however sedition. Also, it’s insufferably stupid.  Newsom Admin Reportedly Holds Closed-Door Business Meetings With Chinese Gov’t Officials.

“For Wales? Why Richard, it profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. . . but for Wales!” … Or the Democrat 2028 nomination. Same difference.

AND IT’S AN EARLY OUTING FOR THE SHOCKED FACE!   Biden FBI’s Targeting Of ‘Traditional’ Catholics Was Bigger Than Previously Thought, Docs Show.

THIS IS NEEDED:  Understanding Trump’s proposed NASA cuts, in the larger context of the overall federal budget.

SAME:

I, for one, am in favor of illegal immigrants who wish to set people on fire for their ethnicity or beliefs knowing that if they set people on fire for their ethnicity or beliefs, there will be significant downsides for their illegal immigrant family members, too.

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) June 4, 2025

I LIKE RAND PAUL, BUT MAKING THE PERFECT THE ENEMY OF THE GOOD IS A CLASSIC LIBERTARIAN MISTAKE:

I was on the campaign trail with President Trump all across America.

He promised in every rally to pass the tax cuts, fully secure the border, deport the illegals, dismantle the criminal gangs, unleash American energy, build the missile defense shield, reshore our manufacturing…

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) June 5, 2025

Take the win you can get, then use the momentum to do more. Am I wrong here? Maybe. But I doubt it.