SURVEY FIND ‘NO CONFIDENCE’ IN FEDS: What does it mean when only one of 10 Americans say they have confidence in information generated by any of the hundreds of federal agencies?

WHAT IF THE CARTELS HAVE DIGITAL TECH BETTER THAN OURS? That’s the sobering question posed by W.T. Hale’s “The Cartels Have Gone High-Tech. We’re Still Under-Estimating Them.”

IRAN HITS BRIC WALL: That’s “BRIC” as in the alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which met earlier this week in New Delhi (members in addition to those founders include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran).

The big news out of the summit, however, was, according to Richard Pollock, what the delegates did not do, namely, adopt a resolution urged by Iran to condemn the U.S. and Israel for the current hostilities.

“The summit’s refusal to condemn Washington and Jerusalem wasn’t merely a victory for the United States and Israel – it also was a rebuff to America’s critics of the war. Democratic socialists, progressives and the elite New York Times may prefer to attack Israel and the Trump administration over the war. But front-line Middle Eastern countries that attended the conference understand that Iran is the genuine enemy,” Pollock writes.

YOUR WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT: Somehow I missed it but the three-part series on the Bill Walton Show entitled “Inside the Wire” is absolutely required YouTube watching for every person who worries about the future of America. Wade Miller, the retired Marine combat veteran who is now Executive Director of the Center for Renewing America, has for years studied the Islamic invasion and related actions originating from China.

But Miller sees those challenges as symptoms of the deeper problem facing all of us, which is the growing inability, even unwillingness, of Western Civilization to defend itself or why it is infinitely worth defending. This is deep and disturbing analysis, but it’s crucially important. Go here for the first of the three parts: “The Crisis Nobody Will Name.”

RADICALISM AMONG HILL STAFFERS: Not sure whether this means more or fewer than expected of the congressional aides working on Capitol Hill view themselves as holding more radical views than their bosses?

ANOTHER FEDERAL WELFARE PROGRAM?: Family Research Council President Tony Perkins cautions Trump administration against expanding eligibility for the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF)  that provides cash assistance to working lower income families for child care.

Expanding CCDF eligibility to include married Stay-at-Home-Spouses (SAHS) taking care of children — as in a draft regulatory proposal at the White House — has a solid intention behind it, but, Perkins points out, why expand the number of dependents on tax dollars when the government is $40 Trillion in debt? Better to expand the Child Care Tax Credit.

“Historically, we have addressed these issues through tax credits. If you fall below the threshold of paying taxes, it can be a refundable tax credit. We championed the Child Tax Credit at the FRC. We’ve long been a champion of trying to encourage family formation, parent-child bonding. But government direct payments, government programs, is a step that Republicans have not really taken. That’s been Democratic, that’s been socialistic,” Perkins warned.

LITTLE-HEARD TRUTH ABOUT TOMORROW: Richard Pollock, ever-observant of realities the Mainstream Media either chooses to ignore or simply doesn’t recognize, reminds us that millions of Muslims around the world danced in the streets as thousands of Americans died on 9/11.

WHAT’S IN A NAME: President Trump seems to be developing a fetish about renaming things after America: Gulf of America, Lake America, New America, etc. etc. The Washington Stand’s Joshua Arnold observes that Trump “is attempting to change the longstanding names of geographic entities by executive fiat. This is, at the very least, a very un-conservative thing to do. Conservatism values and seeks to conserve the goodness that human societies organically create over time.”

NOTHING NEW IN THIRD WAY: They call themselves “centrist” and “moderate,” but the latest edition of the Third Way appears incapable of fresh thinking about health care reform because Obamacare is sacrosanct.

IT’S LIZ WARREN, AGAIN: Check out “AND THEN THERE ARE THE FACTS” on the latest Mark Tapscott Copy Desk column.

THAT OTHER GUY ON THE CROSS: No matter your view of Christianity, this short take by Alistair Begg should tickle your funny bone.

DAY IN THE LIFE OF …: “Did Thrift Savings Plan Officials Pull Banned DEI Contract Provisions? Yes and No.”

OMG! WHATS UP POST-IRAN FOR TDSERS? It hasn’t happened just yet, but Trump’s Anaconda strategy against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard regime seems to be steadily tightening toward victory. Those mischievous expositors at Issues & Insights worry what will happen to millions of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) sufferers when Orange Man Bad puts the final touch on the victory.

MARRIAGE KEY TO HOUSING AFFORDABILITY: Most of the time when the public forums have discussion about the growing crisis in affordable housing, the focus tends to be on government measures designed to making it cheaper and faster to build new homes.

But a new analysis by the American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center and the Institute for Family Studies makes a strong data-driven case for the idea that reversing America’s declining marriage rate would go a long way to returning home ownership to its central role in the American drea,

$50 TRILLION IN THREE YEARS? America just hit the $40 Trillion National Debt milestone. But another $10 Trillion added by July 2029?

BUREAUCRATS FIND LOOPHOLE IN TRUMP’S DEI BAN: They always do. This one concerns the federal workers’ Thrift Savings Plan, part of their retirement benefit program.

TAKING IT ALL DOESN’T WORK: New analysis from Cato Institute shows taking every penny made above $1 million is way short of covering even one year of the federal budget deficit. So much for “taxing the Rich.”

LIES, DAMN LIES AND $40 TRILLION NATIONAL DEBT: Issues&Insights nails the Mainstream Media’s attempts to blame Trump and tax cuts for the $40 Trillion national debt (that is actually $176 Trillion).

‘WASHINGTON MATH:’ That’s when your congressmen only want CBO to provide part of the projection of the long-term costs of proposed legislation. And we wonder why spending and deficits and debts keep increasing?

BLUNT TRUTH ABOUT THE NATIONAL DEBT: Going back 73 years to the first day of President Dwight Eisenhower and continuing through the end of 2025, every President and Congress, Democratic and Republican, has increased the National Debt. My latest Substack column is just about as blunt as possible on this crucial national issue. So is this one on PJMedia this morning. We can’t afford to ignore this any longer, folks.

WHEN REALITY BITES SEN. CHRIS MURPHY: The Connecticut Democrat tweets that 52 immigrants have died in ICE detention facilities and …. you can probably fill out the rest of his demagoguery. Why do I say demagoguery? Check it out here.

NO, THE NATIONAL DEBT ISN’T $40 TRILLION: That figure, published by the Treasury Department earlier this week, is off by at least $130 Trillion. And, if Adam Smith is right about nations and debts, it’s doubtful we will ever be out from under this mountain of dependency upon creditors, domestic and foreign.

DEM VOTER REGISTRATIONS DECLINING: From the “Maybe There Is Justice” file – Democratic voter registration is down in 93 percent of the 1,400+ counties in states that allow partisan filings, even as the GOP’s are up in 77 percent of them. And in several states, Colorado most notably, the Independent/Minor Party line is now bigger than either of the two major parties.

IRAN IS VIP BUT DON’T FORGET LEBANON: Secretary of State Marco Rubio certainly hasn’t forgotten Lebanon or the Hezbollah, which just happens to be Iran’s most powerfully armed terrorist puppet. Richard Pollock reveals details behind the barely-noticed special talks launched by Rubio between Israel and the Lebanese government.

NO, TEVI TROY, 1976 WAS NOT REAGAN’S GREATEST SPEECH: Those unscheduled impromptu remarks to the Kansas City GOP convention were a fine moment, but, for those millions of us then-young Americans who worked for him know, Reagan’s greatest speech started in 1964 and he finished it 25 years later. It’s my latest Substack column and it is close to my heart, so I hope you will take time to read and ponder it.