CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Don’t Look Now, But Another New Jersey Town Just Voted to Refund Their Carry Permit Fees. “State lawmakers set the high permit fee in an effort to discourage average citizens from applying for carry permits. We joined forces with our friends at NRA/ILA and NJFOS in an effort to provide relief, and we’re happy to say it’s beginning to work.”
Author Archive: Stephen Green
July 17, 2025
YOUR OCCASIONAL REMINDER — IF ONE WAS NEEDED — THAT LEFTISM HAS NO INHERENT LIMITING PRINCIPLES:
What I find puzzling and interesting about NPR is the same thing, in miniature, that I find puzzling about liberalism in many contexts: the utter inability to impose limits on itself, even when the failure to do so is obviously self-destructive. If NPR had even pursued its…
— Adrian Vermeule (@Vermeullarmine) July 17, 2025
“Too much is never enough,” the wise man said.
Related (From Ed):
Liberalism rejects the very concept of limits on itself because that would negate its internal determinism and, more broadly, the telos itself. What we see as obvious self-destruction is, to them, victimization by opposing forces which, of course, are always wrong.
— S. Maria Shreve (@s_shreve1) July 17, 2025
WINNING: Trump Ends Boondoggle on Rails.
SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEN IT’S OUTCLASSED BY AN 8-BIT CONSOLE FROM THE ’70S WITH 128 BYTES OF RAM: Google Gemini crumbles in the face of Atari Chess challenge — admits it would ‘struggle immensely’ against 1.19 MHz machine, says canceling the match most sensible course of action.
2026 PREVIEW: Trump says Texas redistricting plan could deliver 5 more GOP House seats.
President Donald Trump expressed confidence this week that Texas Republicans could gain as many as five additional seats in the US House of Representatives through a redistricting plan expected to be taken up during a special legislative session later this month.
“I think we’ll get five,” Trump told reporters, according to The Hill. “And there could be some other states we’re going to get another three, or four or five in addition. Texas would be the biggest one.”
Trump also noted that it would be “okay” if left-wing states like California or New York pursued redistricting plans of their own.
The president’s remarks follow Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s announcement that redistricting will be part of the upcoming special session. Abbott announced last week that the state will introduce “a revised congressional redistricting plan in light of constitutional concerns raised by the US Department of Justice.”
Although redistricting traditionally occurs every ten years, Trump’s team is reportedly encouraging Texas to redraw its maps sooner in order to expand the GOP’s House razor-thin majority ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Developing…
I’VE LAID IN EXTRA SUPPLIES OF “GOODER AND HARDER”: New York Elites Brace for the Inevitable: Mamdani as Mayor.
WE’RE RULED BY OVERGROWN CHILDREN:
🚨NEW: CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane tells Chuck Todd he got "PTSD" after Trump assassination attempt — *NOT* from the shooting, but because the crowd blamed the media🚨
"For those of us there, it was such a horror."
"I got diagnosed with PTSD within 48 hours. I got… pic.twitter.com/JYeA7FZ90G
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) July 16, 2025
NICE CATCH: Exiled Yemen government claims to seize 750 tons of Iran-supplied Houthi weapons.
For years, the US Navy and other Western naval forces have seized Iranian arms being sent to the Houthis, who have held Yemen’s capital since 2014 and have been attacking ships in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war.
The seizure announced Wednesday, however, marked the first major interdiction conducted by the National Resistance Force, a group of fighters allied to Tariq Saleh, a nephew of Yemen’s late strongman leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Houthis and Iran did not immediately acknowledge the seizure, which the National Resistance Force said happened in late June.
Yesterday: Sirens sound in Dead Sea area following missile launched by Yemen’s Houthis.
DEMOCRAT POLS ARE AFRAID MAMDANI WILL WIN, BUT THEY’RE MORE AFRAID TO OPENLY OPPOSE HIM: Hochul Tries to Soothe New Yorkers Over Mamdani. “When the working Joe or Jane declares New York City to be unlivable and starts making their way south, that’s no big loss. Conversely, when high-earners and corporations start looking for the exit, that’s a whole new ballgame, sports fans.”
DECOUPLING: China’s Shipbuilding Market Share Plummets as U.S. Port Fees Loom.
“In the first half of 2025, China’s share of newbuilding contracting fell to 52% from 72% in the previous six months. Growing concerns over USTR port fees on Chinese ships in US ports likely contributed to a decrease in contracting in China. This trend was further amplified by a drop in global ship contracting and a shift in the types of ships being ordered,” says Filipe Gouveia, Shipping Analysis Manager at BIMCO.
The upcoming USTR port fees, scheduled to take effect in October 2025, will affect both Chinese owners and operators, as well as ships built in China. The policy does include exemptions for smaller Chinese-built vessels based on sector-specific criteria and for short haul voyages.
According to BIMCO’s analysis, global newbuilding orders measured in Compensated Gross Tonnage (CGT) fell 54% year-over-year during the first half of 2025.
But: “China’s dominant position in shipbuilding is unlikely to significantly change soon, but the country could face increasing competition in the medium term. Countries like the Philippines and Vietnam, already small-scale producers of bulkers and tankers, may boost their output, benefiting from low labor costs. Meanwhile, although the US and India currently have limited shipbuilding capacity, both governments are actively working to strengthen their domestic industries. However, even if they succeed, it will take time for them to scale up production.”
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Dear NPR and PBS — The ‘Public’ Shouldn’t Have to Fund Anything. “We now have to see if House Republicans can be functional or if we will have to endure another ‘herding cats while drunk and on stilts’ affair. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I have high hopes for this one.”
AN UNIMPEACHABLE SOURCE: Hunter Biden goes scorched earth on Democrats, gives blunt reason why party lost big in 2024.
Former first son Hunter Biden faulted Democrats’ disloyalty to his father for the electoral drubbing they suffered last year and President Trump’s return to power.
The younger Biden argued that Democrats squandered their advantages of incumbency and “an incredibly successful administration” — despite its record-low approval numbers — when they turned against his father in dramatic fashion last summer.
“We lost the last election because we did not remain loyal to the leader of the party,” Hunter Biden said on former Democratic National Committee boss Jaime Harrison’s new podcast, according to excerpts.
Is he high?
AFTER THE USAID REVELATIONS, I MIGHT BE SHOCK-PROOF: The Extent to Which the State Department Wasted Your Money Was Truly Shocking. “They couldn’t tell you how many people worked here. It’s sort of scary as a taxpayer and as a public servant to think that we don’t even know how many employees we have. This is a national security agency, you know. Who are these people?”
FRANK MIELE: Pushing Back Against the Big Medicaid Lie.
To summarize, here are the talking points that every Republican candidate for Congress must master if they hope to beat back Democrat distortions:
1. Republicans voted to increase Medicaid spending over the next 10 years by 20%.
2. Republicans voted to preserve Medicaid for the needy by making sure that everyone using the program’s valuable resources is truly needy – and eligible.
3. Republicans voted to create an economy where more people can get jobs that provide high-quality health insurance. Emphasize this: Jobs are good.
4. Republicans treat Medicaid recipients with dignity, asking them to follow simple rules to qualify for the benefit, rather than treating them as helpless wards of the state.
5. Republicans are bending the curve downward on the national debt. Even if the CBO is right that the debt will increase by $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years, that increase is only 20% of what it was over the previous 10 years. And the Trump tax cuts are expected to stimulate the economy, so the national debt will actually decrease.
Those will do for a start. Remember, the Big Beautiful Bill is the codification of the agenda that President Trump ran on in 2024. It’s not tricky. It’s not nefarious. And if it is unpopular, that’s only because Democrats have been lying about it. Now, it’s up to Republicans to fight back against the Big Medicaid Lie, or else pay the price for their silence.
Maybe keep those talking points handy.
TROLLING LIKE TRUMP: ‘Ready to Flee NYC?’ Ramaswamy Has a $50K Suggestion.
July 16, 2025
HOW LOW CAN THEY GO?
Democratic Party Approval Rating
🟢 Approve: 19% (-53)
🔴 Disapprove: 72%Quinnipiac | July 10-14 | 1,290 RV pic.twitter.com/rD1q7p0h90
— OSZ (@OpenSourceZone) July 16, 2025
WELL, GOP?
A chief judge strategizing with other judges over how to thwart a party with dozens of cases before that judge and district is beyond unethical and inappropriate. It is a massive violation of the formal code of conduct for federal judges.
Boasberg deserves to be removed from… https://t.co/BdZB78a8qQ
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 16, 2025
Looks like a robed insurrection to me.
WINNING:
President Trump has stated that Coca-Cola will switch to using real cane sugar in its U.S. products following recent talks. pic.twitter.com/H6RHG3HFTq
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 16, 2025
TRUMP-LEVEL TROLLING: ‘Ready to Flee NYC?’ Ramaswamy Has a $50K Suggestion.
IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA: Jerome’s House Is a Very, Very, Very Fine House.
There’s been a bit of a building boom going on in D.C. that’s kind of run under the radar with all the sonic booms of the Trump administration reverberating in the air overhead, drowning out the sound of elven hammers hard at work.
Back in April, the NY Post broke the story that the Federal Reserve Chairman, who is so worried about inflation and the debt that he can’t lower interest rates to make your life easier, didn’t have a problem greenlighting a renovation of his admittedly aging digs over at the Fed.
The problem is that what Chairman Powell had in mind turned out to be more of something that got dubbed a ‘Palace of Versailles’ type home remodel, which, in this day and age, caused a few eyebrows to hit hairlines. Particularly since the American taxpayer will wind up footing the bill for it.
Read the whole thing.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG:
Inbox: top Jill Biden aide Anthony Bernal pled the 5th today.
According to Comer’s office,
“Bernal pleaded the Fifth when asked if any unelected official or family members executed the duties of the President and if Joe Biden ever instructed him to lie about his health.” pic.twitter.com/eRMRZIDyXx— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 16, 2025
Just a reminder that when it’s a Republican, pleading the 5th is a tacit admission of guilt.
WHEN TDS MEETS PERFORMATIVE VICTIMHOOD MEETS MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME: Late-Night Comics Pretend Trump May Come for Them Next.