PROMISES, PROMISES: NATO members agree to increase defense spending to 5%.

NATO members agreed on Sunday to increase defense spending to 5% of their countries’ GDP, a benchmark long sought by President Donald Trump, who had complained more vocally than other US presidents that his country had shouldered much of Europe’s security for too long.

Spain had sought to block the measure, but ultimately dropped its opposition after a deal was reached for it to be exempt.

It is expected that NATO members will vote in favor of ramping up defense spending to 5% during the upcoming two-day NATO meeting set to start Tuesday in The Hague.

Once adopted, all member nations except Spain will have until 2035 to reach the goal of 5%.

The agreement calls for at least 3.5% of national GDP to be spent on core military needs, while an additional 1.5% can be allocated for related expenditures.

Ten years to reach a modest goal that Britain, France, Germany, and Italy aren’t serious about, and that Spain got out of just by complaining?

JEFFREY CARTER ON WEATHER HYSTERIA:

I see the weather service in Chicago issued a “heat warning”. It’s 90 degrees with humidity. When I was a kid, it just meant I could get loose faster shooting baskets on the blacktop.

Now, because weather is politicized it makes frightened Karen moms look up from their phones, take a sip of chardonnay (or maybe rosé this time of year), and tell the children to come to the air conditioned inside and watch television.

People want excitement in their lives, even if it’s made-up excitement.

Plus:

I was told by my betters and elites that tariffs were inflationary. I blogged that they were wrong. Tariffs are not inflationary. They act like a tax, so things slow down. There isn’t a one-for-one, dollar-for-dollar price effect when a tariff is enacted. I don’t particularly care for tariffs and would prefer they didn’t exist, but the elites were wrong again. Inflation is going down. Countries are coming to the bargaining table and hammering out deals.

People tell us a lot of things.

VICTORIA TAFT: A Chick Was One of ‘Our Boys’ Who Bombed Iran. Mullahs and Democrats Hardest Hit. “Do the media really need to give the Islamist 12th Imam nutters another target as they did in this bizarre Washington Post article plotting on maps where all the American forces were operating in the Middle East? What’s next, targeting coordinates?”

A LATE PROMO POST IS STILL A PROMO POST:  Book Promo And Vignettes By Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

AN IDEA SO CRAZY IT JUST MIGHT WORK: HIRE AMERICANS WITH BETTER PAY AND WORKING CONDITIONS.

When someone tells you there are jobs Americans won't do, your job is to add "…for those wages." It's godless to build an economy on jobs so poorly paid and unsafe that only desperate foreigners will do them. Mass deportations are the answer to an economic and moral emergency. https://t.co/7HFoTUuRIE

— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) June 23, 2025

WHA? [CHECKS WATCH] IS THIS THING SLOW? WHEN ARE THE ANTI-IMMIGRANT PROTESTS?   I think it might be Doom o’Clock already.

ANY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT, I CAN’T BELIEVE ANY DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT THIS CENTURY WOULD:  Scarborough Shocks Viewers with Rare Defense of Trump’s Iran Strike: ‘Any President Would’ve Done It’.

WERE KAMALA TO ORDER SUCH AN ASSAULT THE STRIKE TEAM WOULD NEVER UNTANGLE THE SYNTAX IN TIME TO ACT (BUT THE ORDER WOULD GO DOWN IN HISTORY. SO TO PUT IT. TO COIN A PHRASE):   Biden Ally Admits Only Trump Had the Guts to Strike Iran, Something He Says Kamala Harris Would Never Do.

AND THESE ARE JUST THE ONES WE KNOW ABOUT:  Over 700 Iranian nationals released into US during Biden administration despite terrorism concerns.

WHAT HE SAID:  Make them suffer.

TANSTAAFL:  There is a God, and his name is Trade-off.

QUIETLY:  Trump, Rubio Facilitate Peace Pact Between DRC and Rwanda to End Decades-Long Mineral War.

THE DAILY MAIL CALLED IT A SMIRK (CORRECTLY):   Democrat mayor SMIRKS as he defends ‘doxing’ ICE agents.

SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED, HERE IS MY SHOCKED FACE:  Shocking Truth About Teachers Union Priorities. (Video.)

I’M STILL HOPING THIS IS THE END OF THE MAD MULLAHS AND THEIR REIGN OF TERRORISM:  The Long Awaited Fix.

SLAVERY IS HORRIBLE:  Juneteenth: No, America’s Wealth Wasn’t Built By Slaves – Slavery Held Us Back.

Also inherently less productive.

WE ESCAPED A BULLET WHEN WE DIDN’T GET TAMPON TIMMY AS A VP:  Fast Takes.

LIBERTY CON IS DONE FOR THE YEAR:  The End of The Con.

THIS. ALL OF THIS:  Sure, give me another reason to support One Big Beautiful Bill.

WELL, IT WAS NICE WHILE IT LASTED:

#BREAKING: The IDF has detected new Iranian missile launches toward Israel. Civilians are being told to take shelter.

Iran has violated the ceasefire set by @POTUS Trump just 13 minutes after it took effect at 7:00 a.m. local time. pic.twitter.com/E3uYCwz92P

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) June 24, 2025