All across the economic dashboard, inflation indicators are blinking red. Most recently, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, calculated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, rose 5.7% from November 2020 to November 2021. That’s the biggest year-over-year surge since September 1983. Many mistakenly attribute today’s rising prices solely to supply chain woes, and government officials are happy to fertilize that mythology—as Kamala Harris reflexively did last week in her rambling, didn’t-do-the-reading response to a question from Margaret Brennan: The truth is, in the words of...
Bills
SWAT Team Blew Up Old Woman’s House, Sent Her Bill for $50,000 Repairs
In July of last year, Vicki Baker, 75, was excited to move on to the next chapter of her life in Montana by selling her home she owned for 12 years in McKinney, Texas. That sale would never take place on schedule, however, because the day before she was supposed to close, a SWAT team destroyed it. After destroying her home, Baker was told by local government that she was on the hook for the $50,000 bill to repair it. After fighting for a year, however, she may finally see some justice after a federal court ruled this month that Baker can sue for damages and get back some of the money it...
News Roundup 11/30/21
US News Jack Dorsey announces his resignation as Twitter's CEO. [Link] A House committee is set to look at several bills reforming Section 230. [Link] Apple will notify users if their phones were hacked by state actors. [Link] Chrystul Kizer is facing homicide charges in Kenosha for killing a man who attempted to rape her. [Link] Covid Biden instructs federal agencies to be ready to move as quickly as possible to approve new vaccines for new covid variants. [Link] Pfizer will ask the FDA to approve boosters for 16 and 17-year-olds. [Link] The White House informs public sector unions it...
What We Have to Gain from a National Default
The Biden administration's rhetoric on the debt ceiling has become nothing short of apocalyptic. The Treasury Department has announced that a failure to increase the debt ceiling "would have catastrophic economic consequences" and would, as NBC news claims, constitute a "doomsday scenario" that would "spark a financial crisis and plunge the economy into recession." Apparently, the memo went out to the debt peddlers that they are not to hold back when sowing maximum fear over the thought that the U.S. might government might pause its incessant debt accumulation even for a few days. The...
COI #153: Despite All-Out Media Effort, Americans Still Support Afghan Withdrawal
On COI #153, Kyle Anzalone updates events in Afghanistan. The Pentagon and State Department are working to remove some privileged Afghans and Americans from Afghanistan. The US claims it has evacuated tens of thousands so far, but it is still unclear how many will be left behind. Despite the speed with which the Afghan government collapsed and ongoing chaos at the airport, the American people have been unpersuaded by a relentless effort by war hawks in the corporate press to turn the public against the withdrawal. New polls show almost two-thirds of Americans support ending the...
News Roundup 8/23/21
Afghanistan Polling shows Americans are supportive of Biden’s decision to leave Afghanistan. [Link] The US used three helicopters to airlift 169 Americans from a hotel outside of the Kabul Airport. [Link] UK officials report seven people were crushed to death outside the Kabul Airport. [Link] The Pentagon is using 18 civilian planes from 18 airlines to fly Afghan refugees. The planes will not be used in Afghanistan. [Link] The Taliban say they have recaptured three districts that had fallen into the hands of opposition fighters. [Link] Middle East Israeli snipers opened fire on protesters...
Cops Break In Locked Gate in Wrong Yard, Shoot Dog In Front of 8 Year Old
It is no secret that cops shoot dogs — a lot. Frequent readers of TFTP know too well how many beloved family pets are gunned down every year by public servants in the U.S. It happens so much that there is a term for it called “puppycide.” We have an endless archive of stories in which dogs meet their untimely ends at the end of a cop’s gun. According to an unofficial count done by an independent research group, Ozymandias Media, a dog is shot by law enforcement every 98 minutes. That number could be higher too as many of the cases never make the media reports. When these cases do make the...
COI #122: The US, Taliban, Israel, Hamas: Who Are the War Criminals?
On COI #122, Kyle and Will break down a controversy centered on Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who landed in hot water after suggesting that the United States, Israel, Hamas and the Taliban all commit atrocities alike. While she was accused of equating "democratic countries" with "terrorists," Will and Kyle explain that the backlash was overwrought, and that Washington and Tel Aviv are, in fact, responsible for war crimes. The Pentagon is sounding alarms over two Iranian military vessels transiting the Atlantic Ocean, a first for Tehran's navy. Nobody knows for sure what the ships intend to...
COI #113: A ‘Ceasefire’ Has Been Reached, But the Israeli Occupation Continues
On COI #113, Kyle and Will cover the ceasefire deal reached between the Israeli government and armed groups in Gaza. The agreement has held over several days and appears to have brought the eruption of violence to an end. All said and done, at least 248 Palestinians and 12 Israelis were killed throughout 11 days of fighting, which flattened residential areas across Gaza and saw thousands of rockets fired into Israeli cities. Under tight blockade, Gaza now returns to its status as the world's largest open-air prison as Tel Aviv continues to expand Jewish-only settlements in the occupied...
5/20/21 Eric Brakey and Reed Cooley on State Nullification and the Defend the Guard Movement
Eric Brakey, former state senator from Maine and current spokesman for Young Americans for Liberty, talks about the efforts to get Defend the Guard bills into state legislatures. The Defend the Guard movement is an attempt to force congress to uphold its role in declaring war by making sure states retain control of their own national guard troops until an official declaration of war, as the constitution outlines. Of course, congress hasn't declared a war since World War II, and is unlikely to do so with any of the current terror wars, meaning that in practice the national guard troops...