Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
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10/24/2023 6:08:32 AM
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Friday afternoon, the Treasury Department reported that, despite a growing economy and low unemployment, the federal deficit shot up by $320 billion in fiscal year 2023. That’s unusual. But what’s really bizarre is why the deficit exploded.
According to the report, overall spending actually dropped by 2% compared with 2022 as the COVID-19 spending splurge abated.
What drove up the deficit this year was a sudden and completely unexpected 9% drop in tax revenues. Not only did revenues come up hundreds of billions lower than last year, but they were well below what everybody expected them to be.
Issues & Insights,
by
Terry Jones
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
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10/23/2023 6:44:59 AM
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Do the major media outlets in the U.S., online, on-air or in print, care whether their audience trusts them or not? It certainly doesn’t seem to be the case today. Americans’ trust in the U.S. media has plunged to its lowest levels ever, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll data show.
Both big, mainstream “traditional” media outlets and mid-sized “alternative” media outlets continue to suffer from declining revenues as their audience and readership numbers shrink. The October I&I/TIPP Poll shows that a loss in underlying trust is a key cause of media industry decline.
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/20/2023 6:39:18 AM
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How many times have we heard that wind power, coupled with the sun’s energy, is going to save us from our fossil-fuel burning ways? Maybe one day it will. But at no time soon will it happen. And by soon, we mean in most of our lifetimes.
How can we say this? Look around at what’s happening with wind energy:
“California’s Central Coast residents work to stop — or at least slow down — offshore wind.” California believes that by 2045 it can operate its electrical grid without contributions from fossil fuels and nuclear energy. To get there, one-fourth of the power must be generated by offshore wind. This CalMatters report,
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/19/2023 6:12:47 AM
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"The war on inflation is over,” wrote Paul (Nobel Prize-Winning-Economist) Krugman last week in a post on X. “We won, at very little cost.” The only thing missing was a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner.
But like the unfinished Iraq war that George W. Bush bragged about from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, the inflation battle is far from over. Krugman’s reputation as an economist, on the other hand, should be put in a body bag and shipped to Sweden, along with his Nobel Prize money.
Krugman was mocked for his claim about inflation, and for good reason.
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/18/2023 6:37:20 AM
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Hong Kong, not long ago a fishing village, a “barren island” with no natural resources, became an economic powerhouse with one of the world’s highest standards of living. Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip has been described as a hellhole. There’s a reason the two are so different: The former chose to pursue prosperity while peacefully coexisting for a half century next to a territory-acquisitive communist regime, the latter chose to consume itself with hatred toward its neighbor.
Modern Hong Kong began to take shape in the 1950s. It now has one of the highest concentrations of wealth in the world. But it wasn’t always a paradise teeming with human capital.
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/17/2023 6:35:40 AM
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Shortly after Hamas began its bloodthirsty campaign against Israel, student groups started issuing statements praising the terrorists and blaming Israel. If you were appalled, you’re not alone. But you’re also helping to pay for it.
At Harvard, 31 student groups made news when they announced that they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” That prompted hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman to call for getting those students’ names so that “none of us inadvertently hire(s) any of their members.” At least a dozen businessmen endorsed Ackman’s call, according to the New York Post.
This was hardly an isolated incident.
Issues & Insights,
by
Terry Jones
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/16/2023 6:19:25 AM
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With the world’s attention still riveted by Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel, the death and destruction of the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its 21st month, goes on. During the conflict, President Joe Biden has put the U.S. forward as a potential peace broker. Do average Americans believe his plan is working?
To find the answer, the October I&I/TIPP Poll asked voters: “How satisfied are you with the Biden administration’s efforts to find a settlement to the Russia-Ukraine conflict?”
The response, after more than $113 billion in U.S. military and humanitarian aid, is not much.
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/13/2023 6:19:36 AM
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If the most informative response to the Hamas atrocities was Victor Davis Hanson’s Twitter post on Israel’s “50th anniversary war,” then the most interesting was written in The Spectator by Brendan O’Neill, who asked “why isn’t Antifa condemning the tide of anti-Semitism?”
“Where is Antifa?” he wondered. “Where are those self-styled anti-fascists who love to rage against anything that is even vaguely reminiscent of the 1930s?”
He knows what the rest of us do: That there’s nothing anti-fascist about Antifa.
“To the modern left, everything is fascism except actual fascism,” says O’Neill.
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/12/2023 5:56:19 AM
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Not long after Russia invaded Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris showcased her keen grasp of international affairs by explaining the war thusly:
“Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong.”
Despite being true, it was widely mocked for being so incredibly insipid. Kamala wasn’t talking to kindergartners, who probably have a better grasp of world affairs than she, but to listeners of a radio program.
Now,
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/11/2023 8:09:44 AM
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Editor’s note: We saw this post on X (formerly known as Twitter) and thought it worth reprinting here because it is an excellent summation of why elections matter and why those who think Donald Trump was the worst president ever might want to rethink that.
This was posted by Robert Greenway, who was the principal architect of the historic Abraham Accords under the Trump administration. Remember that every step he describes that Trump took was met with horror and anguish by elites and leftists alike who said it would lead to conflict.
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/11/2023 5:46:02 AM
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President Joe Biden’s decision to turn tail and start construction on a border wall was quickly overshadowed by the gruesome attack against Israel. But it’s worth revisiting because Biden’s Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas might have just admitted to repeatedly lying to Congress under oath.
On Aug. 5, Mayorkas announced that he planned to waive more than two dozen federal statutes so that construction could immediately begin on 20 miles of border wall in Texas.
Why was he taking this step? Mayorkas makes it perfectly clear:
“There is presently an acute and immediate need
Issues & Insights,
by
The Editorial Board
Original Article
Posted by
RockyTCB
—
10/9/2023 7:31:11 AM
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It’s a tragic fact that Hamas’ attack that killed hundreds last weekend was a deadly salvo against the very existence of the Jewish state of Israel. But it was also an attack on the West’s weaklings who have once again enabled terrorism. And, sadly, that includes the U.S.
It was no accident that Hamas used a “Festival for Peace” concert near Gaza as an offensive on the very existence of the multi-ethnic, democratic state of Israel. Those attending no doubt thought their good intentions and good wishes for peace would be a shield against such atrocities.
Sadly, terrorists saw this as vulnerability, and took advantage.