COMMENTOR IN CHIEF

Americans can’t get mortgages because they don’t have the right credit, but H1B visa holders can come over and immediately get approved. Do you get it yet?

Taiwan solved tax evasion in 1951 with a trick so cheap it should embarrass every tax authority on the planet. The problem was an all-cash economy full of small shops. A merchant pockets the cash, skips the receipt, and the sale never existed. Auditors can't catch what was never recorded, and hiring enough of them to watch every noodle stand costs more than the missing tax. So finance chief Ren Xianqun flipped the incentive. Print a lottery number on every receipt. Draw winners every two months on live TV. Top prize today: NT$10 million, about $310K. Suddenly the customer and the shopkeeper want opposite things. The merchant wants the sale off the books. The customer wants the ticket. And there are millions more customers than merchants. Every transaction now carries a built-in witness demanding the paper trail. Year one, reported tax revenue jumped 75%, from NT$29 million to NT$51 million. Seventy-five years later, roughly 70% of Taiwanese still play. Convenience stores redeem the smallest NT$200 prizes at the register, so even a coffee receipt feels like a scratch card. The elegant part is what the audit force costs. The prize pool runs about NT$7 billion a year, roughly $20 million. In exchange, the government gets 23 million unpaid auditors working every checkout line in the country, forever. No inspector general on earth delivers that coverage at that price. Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Slovakia all copied it. The most effective compliance tool ever built looks like a game, and that's exactly why it works.

CNN’s Dana Bash: “It was July 4, and the Reflecting Pool was closed.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: “It was closed because it's surrounded by fireworks. It's closed every year on the Fourth of July.” Dana Bash: “But it was closed prior to that in order to fix the Reflecting Pool.” Doug Burgum: “No, it was closed because the largest fireworks display in the country was set up, and it lines either side of the Reflecting Pool. You can't have people around fireworks when they're being set up.” 
“Now that the fireworks will come down, the fence will come down. The fence was there because of the fireworks.” NUKED!

@EndWokeness @grok is this AI?

Jasmine Crockett on July 4th: "The US owes everything to black women" for inventions, democracy, etc

Trump Was Right All Along Donald Trump’s core claim about trade and industrial policy was simple and unfashionable: trade is a tool of national power, not an end in itself. The last year has gone a long way toward proving him right. The damage was done when China was accepted into the WTO and then implemented mercantilist trade practices while global technocrats sat idle. The bet was that China’s integration into the rules-based system would liberalize its politics and normalize its economics. Instead, subsidized overcapacity, managed exchange rates, and aggressive export targeting gutted large parts of U.S. manufacturing and weakened the broader Western industrial base. What elites treated as efficient globalization was, in practice, the offshoring of productive capacity, the hollowing out of industrial regions, and the strategic empowerment of a geopolitical rival. That insight shaped everything that followed. Trump argued that the era of frictionless globalization was over, that trade deficits and supply-chain dependence mattered, and that national strength would again rest on productive capacity, industrial depth, and control over strategic resources. Trumps America First strategy, anchored in the Hamilton–Clay tradition, treated tariffs, trade reviews, and infrastructure as instruments of statecraft. That was dismissed as crude protectionism. It now looks like early recognition of the world we’re actually in. Operation Epic Fury made the geopolitical point even more starkly: Pax Americana is dead. The evidence is now coming not just from Trump’s allies but from the broader political and intellectual class. Even Paul Krugman has conceded that “conditional tariffs” on Chinese cars are “probably going to be necessary” and warned that Europe cannot allow its auto industry to be hollowed out by Chinese overcapacity. When a progressive Nobel laureate starts agreeing with Trump that tariffs and industrial capacity have a legitimate strategic role, the old consensus is gone. The argument now is no longer over first principles, but over how far and how fast to move. That shift is showing up in North America as well. The Trump administration’s refusal to extend the current trade pact on existing terms codified what Trump’s worldview had already implied: the age of automatic continental trade management is over. The agreement remains in force, but it is now under deliberate strategic review. Trade is being judged less by abstract efficiency and more by whether it strengthens industrial depth, energy security, and continental resilience. Canada is now being forced to adjust. The next round of U.S.–Canada trade talks should deepen integration where it already makes strategic sense, energy, critical minerals, power, and industrial inputs—while targeting the old protected zones of the Canadian economy where reciprocity with the United States still does not meaningfully exist: supply‑managed agriculture, softwood lumber, sheltered finance, and telecom. Canada’s dependence on U.S. downstream refining capacity for heavy crude shows how real continental interdependence already is, while its openness to subsidized Chinese EV imports underscores the same danger Krugman identified in Europe: allowing Chinese overcapacity to hollow out domestic industry. Trump saw that first. He understood before most of the establishment that the global economy was shifting from efficiency to security, from comparative advantage in the abstract to productive capacity in the real world. Now even his critics are conceding the point. The only serious question left is whether governments are prepared to act on what Trump understood long before they did.

Hello Mr. Clinton, I'm not going to extend to you the courtesy that your paragraph about lawfare extends to Trump supporters. Because I've studied enough of you, to know what you are truly about. You were President during the post-Cold War sugar high. I have it thoroughly documented that you and your administration met with George Soros frequently, and in short term changed your policy positions to fit whatever George Soros proposed. Which was: continuous military intervention all over the world. Starting with the bombing of Yugoslavia. You were the original neoconservative. Madeline Albright used "open society" phrasing in communicating your foreign policy documents. You are a part of the long string of failures of nation-building in the name of democracy, the Western interventions that resulted in millions of mass migrants overwhelming our borders, artificial famines, and us building the infrastructure that enabled China to take over the Africa continent and extract African resources for themselves. But. Most of all. Those of us -- and there are a good deal many of us -- who have been ruined by lawfare. @GenFlynn sacrificed everything. @JeffClarkUS has had his life ruined and is still rebuilding. At the end of the day, only one President has been the subject of repeated assassination attempts and eighty-plus indictments - and it's President Trump. Not anyone in your orbit. Seriously, Bill. What do you think when you see that a Democrat gets indicted by a grand jury, and a judge inevitably overturns that indictment on grounds that nobody has heard of? "Oh wow the judges are so wise and saw right through a jury of peers! And that wisdom coincidentally happens to always fall on party lines!" Give me a break. Every single one of us on the right-wing side knows that when your side regains power, your side will turn the full might of lawfare on us. You will cheer on mass incarcerations. You openly brag about that. You even toe the line of threatening to jail current military members if they don't refuse orders from Pete Hegseth. You are the evil one here. You cheer on the burning of our cities. You cheer on lawfare of Republicans. You never apologized for the millions of lives disrupted all over the world. You never say a word about the billions or even trillions of dollars that have been robbed by your friends through corrupt NGOs. The fact that none of you are in jail, proves that we are the powerless ones here. You're just afraid that someone sees you for you who are, and you secretly know that image is ugly.

To the Americans: I've travelled all over the world. I've familiarized myself with many places, and met many people. And I'm a Canadian, although I’m privileged to reside once again in the States. And here's something I've noticed, and it’s a key element of America's continuing greatness: You bloody Americans value success, and you believe in its existence. This is something that doesn't really happen anywhere else in the world. Even in other free democracies—the United Kingdom; Finland, Sweden, and Norway; Australia, New Zealand and Canada; Germany, France, and the Netherlands (great countries all)—a counterproductive cynicism too often reigns. Success is equated with exploitation. Ambition is looked upon with contempt. This happens sometimes in the United States too—particularly among the miserable progressives, who confuse their resentment, ingratitude and unearned skepticism with wisdom. But in your great country, by and large, striving is admired and success celebrated. This means that more people strive and succeed in the US than anywhere else. And it's increasingly obvious. You remain stunningly more innovative and productive than any people anywhere else on the planet. And so I say, as all should who are fortunate enough to live in the western world, let alone America: Thank God for the United States. Thank God for the wisdom of its founders. Thank God for its faith in the free market and in the natural rights of man. Happy birthday, you damn Yankees and Southerners. Long may your admirable country dominate the world. Long may your freedom and hope provide an example to those suffering everywhere at the hands of their malevolent states. May your two and a half centuries of unparallelled success be just the beginning. Your country is the light of the world, and the city on the hill. Thank God for the USA. Happy 250th. Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

This is crazy Canadian ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada wrote a memo to Minister Joly outlining a plan to make themselves the literal Ministry of Truth, and then use government lawyers to sue people.

Security camera footage catches people stealing sewer grates from sidewalks in San Francisco Residents are upset because the city then sends the people who live near the sewer grate the bill for a new sewer grate “According to the City Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Public Works, the sidewalk in front of a house, including its grates, is the responsibility of a homeowner” According to residents who have the grates stolen and are sent the bills, the city is doing nothing about it “So far, none of the neighbors we've talked with have mentioned anything about the city making any effort to track down whoever is stealing the grates, but the Department of Public Works does have a list of hardware stores where residents can buy replacements” This is classic California Democrats, send the victims of the crime a bill and do absolutely nothing about the criminals committing the crime

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that Christian teaching in our schools is a human rights violation. If this stands, it could be used to erase Christian RE, worship, and ethos — not just in NI, but across the whole UK. We must act now.Please sign the petition to protect Christian education and stop this ruling from being used to push Christianity out of our schools. ✍️ Sign here: [LINK] And please share this with 5 friends who care about keeping Christian teaching alive for the next generation. 🙏 Let’s stand together and defend our children’s heritage! 💙✝️ Click here: cgo.ac/scGLIoul Thanks

🚨 Cory Booker admits he pushed to racially engineer Democratic Senate staffs because there were "too many white" senators and staffers BOOKER: “I [asked] Chuck Schumer to force every Democratic senator to publish the diversity statistics of their staffs.” This is what the left obsesses over—skin color over merit. No wonder Congress is a disaster. Stop the race obsession and hire the best people for the job. Merit first. 🇺🇸 #CoryBooker #DEIRacism

I don't think Australian understand. If we hadn't spent a single cent on Net Zero. And hadn't pursued mass migration from the third world. Just those two things. We'd be one of the richest nations, per capita, in the world. One of the safest nations. One of the most energy-rich nations. A nation where our own kids are first in every queue - housing, education, employment... Two mistakes from politicians cost us EVERYTHING.

You've probably heard this before, but it's always worth repeating. Something extremely cool about the "Star-spangled Banner," the American national anthem, is that it asks a question, and it's the question at the heart of everything in the American worldview. "Oh, say, can you see By the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed At the twilight's last gleaming..." So the anthem begins with a question and a scene. One man, a patriot, is asking another man, another patriot, "can you see it?" at sunrise after a long, dangerous night. The "it" in question is going to be revealed to be the flag, our "star-spangled banner," which they had last fully recognized and honored as the sun set, daylight failed, and night crept over them the evening before. Can you see it? Say! Can you see it?! IS IT STILL THERE?! "Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched Were so gallantly streaming..." Here we find that the "it" is in fact the flag, our star-spangled banner, and we learn why the question is being asked. The flag is described as having flown and streamed gallantly over ramparts of war through a perilous fight. All could have been lost. The flag, and even the fledgling country for which it stands, one nation under God and indivisible. Say! Can you see it? Now that the light is back? IS IT STILL THERE?! "--And the rockets' red glare, The bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night That our flag was still there!--" They could see it through the battle in the light of the rockets and bombs that threatened them, here and there in quick glimpses. But it was still there throughout! But now? At dawn? Say! Can you see? IS IT STILL THERE?! "Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free And the home of the brave?" The urgency is palpable with every refrain. They have to know. It's the first thing they must know as the sun begins to light the sky, even before it rises. IS IT STILL THERE?! Say! Say!! Can you see? Can you see it?! At the heart of every American beats the fundamental truth and reality that what we have here is precious, that it's worth fighting for, to the death if necessary, and that it's fragile. That at any moment it can be lost. That we have to remember to look for it because last night might have been the night in which it failed. Every day, every year, every generation. The American fight for freedom, to live in self-governance within ordered liberty, is ongoing and never-ending. The price of the land of the free is that it must be the home of the brave. We have to defend it, defend it, and defend it again, against all enemies foreign and domestic, because what we have is amazing, rare, fragile, and worth every cent of treasure, every drop of blood, and every risk to our sacred honor to protect it. Our anthem is not a declaration. It is not a proclamation. It is not a statement. It is a question. Every time we sing our wholly unique national anthem, we as American ask the question again. IS IT STILL THERE?! Are we still America? Does that star-spangled banner yet wave? Because it's a question, the answer is not known. It is not a guarantee. It cannot be taken for granted and isn't. And what an honor to ask and take up our part in the story, in the American Experiment, in the greatest country the world has ever known. For tonight, the last night of our first 250 years, as the sun gave way to twilight's last gleaming and darkness overtook our land once again, the answer was still yes. We can see it even tonight in the red glare of rockets, with small bombs bursting in air, fill the sky with the noble tribute of fireworks once again. And we all ask ourselves, will it still be flying at dawn? This is what it means to be an American. Happy 250th, America! Now for many happy returns! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

I have a regular customer who is very senior within the NHS. She said that racism *is* massively on the rise, and it seems to be all she deals with now. But, she said, its not racism from white British people as the impression is given in these reports and surveys, its cross-ethnic racism. There are fractions between different Asian groups that refuse to work with each other, or within African groups that bully each other, or the Asians won't work with the Africans, or abuse against the East Asians like Phillipino or Vietnamese. And then, of course, the British nurses that get abuse from non white ethnic groups, both patients and staff. Widespread racism in Sandwell and Birmingham maternity care, review finds - BBC News share.google/Yvq40k6HDLv8Wu…

"I've never seen racism like it was directed at me today." Massachusetts State Representative Marcus Vaughn reports that at a debate Democrat supporters and a Democratic Town Chair verbally harassed him for being black and a Republican. @massgop @MassDems

🚨 EVEN THE UNIONS ARE REJECTING COMMUNISM! 🔥 New York Union boss Bobby Bartels just TORCHED the Democrat Party: ‘It’s the CRIMINALS and everybody that DOESN’T WANNA WORK party! They flung the borders WIDE OPEN for FOUR YEARS… flooding America with chaos while real workers suffer! We’re NOT backing them ANYMORE!’ The mask is OFF. Socialism is TOXIC—even hardcore unions are DONE with this communist nightmare! 💥 Who else is waking up? 👇 #UnionsVsCommunism #DemocratsExposed #AmericaFirst”

Last night a man named Ivan in Signal Hill, which is in Los Angeles County California, was attempting to meetup with an underage girl for sex This man from Mexico doesn’t speak a single word of English, He waited hours for his underage victim to come out Reporters on the scene attempted to speak with him but couldn’t, “Being he spoke not a letter of English we couldn’t even talk to him” This is who Democrats are fighting to keep in America. These illegal sexual predators are everywhere

Elon Musk just put a price tag on obedience. It costs $200,000. Musk: “You don’t need college to learn stuff. Everything is available basically for free. You can learn anything you want for free.” Every lecture. Every textbook. Every framework ever written. Free on any screen in any country right now. The entire knowledge monopoly collapsed in a decade. Nobody updated the price tag. Musk: “Colleges are basically for fun and to prove you can do your chores. But they’re not for learning.” Strip the ivy and the branding. What’s underneath is a four-year obedience trial. Can this person follow instructions on a schedule without asking why. Musk: “There is a value that colleges have, which is seeing whether somebody can work hard at something, including a bunch of annoying homework assignments, and still do their homework assignments.” That is the entire six-figure value proposition. Not what you know. Not what you can build. Whether you can be managed. The establishment doesn’t need you educated. It needs you domesticated. Musk: “If you’re trying to do something exceptional, you must have evidence of exceptional ability. I don’t consider going to college evidence of exceptional ability.” The system doesn’t produce exceptional. It produces manageable. It takes the most creative years of your life and teaches you to wait for instructions. That is not education. That is containment. Musk: “Gates is a pretty smart guy, he dropped out. Jobs is pretty smart, he dropped out. Larry Ellison, smart guy, he dropped out.” They didn’t leave because they couldn’t keep up. They left because the ceiling was underground. 8 billion people now carry the same library in their pocket. The one these institutions charged a lifetime of debt to access. The only product the university still sells is the belief that you need one.

I’m sure if you asked 10 Americans if immigration was good 8 would say yes. If you asked 10 Americans if 30,000 Haitians should move into their town I don’t think 8 would say yes. The abstract ideal is always more attractive than the rubber meats the road praxis.

Threatening to use the power of government to confiscate and redistribute the wealth of others is fundamentally unAmerican. Pass it on if you agree.