Trump’s Big Ukraine Deal

Trump getting fed up with good calls with Putin where Putin says he is working toward peace and then turns around and attacks civilians. Trump is selling weapons to NATO who will give them to Ukraine, and says Putin has 50 days to end the war or 100% tariffs will go on countries buying from Russia, like India and China.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR554Exl1eY

The Tax Bill Rewards States for Higher Rates of Food Stamp Fraud

“Forcing states to cover some of the cost of food stamps would be a big change for how the program operates, and one that is long overdue. “The federal government pays for 100 percent of the benefits, so state administrators have little incentive to crack down on theft,” Chris Edwards, chair of fiscal policy for the Cato Institute, and a longtime advocate of food stamp reform, tells Reason. While most states are not swindling federal taxpayers as often as Alaska does, more than $1 in every $10 spent through the food stamp program last year was paid out in error.

to get Murkowski and Sullivan on board with the bill, the Senate added a sweetener: Any state with a food stamp error rate of more than 13.3 percent will be exempt from the federal-state cost-sharing measure for two years.

Imagine that you’re administering the food stamp program in a state like Delaware, which last year had an error rate of 12.37 percent. If the Senate version of the tax bill becomes law, you’d have a pretty strong incentive to simply let that error rate rise a bit for the rest of this year, thus buying you two more years of a fully federally funded SNAP program with no mandatory state spending.”

https://reason.com/2025/07/02/the-tax-bill-rewards-states-for-higher-rates-of-food-stamp-fraud/

Under the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,’ Car Companies Won’t Be Fined for Failing To Hit Arbitrary Fuel Efficiency Goals

“No vehicle is currently anywhere close to meeting these standards: According to data from the Energy Department, motorcycles come closest, at just shy of 45 miles per gallon, while cars average less than 25 miles per gallon. But the standards are fleet-wide, meaning the average for all of an automaker’s output needs to fall below the minimum. In practice, this means manufacturers must rely heavily on low- or zero-emission vehicles, like battery-powered electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids, to get on the right side of the average.

The Senate version of the “big, beautiful bill” sets both of these dollar amounts at “$0.00,” effectively rendering it moot: Automakers making cars that don’t adhere to CAFE standards will still technically be in violation of the law, but they would face no reprisal.”

https://reason.com/2025/07/02/under-the-big-beautiful-bill-car-companies-wont-be-fined-for-failing-to-hit-arbitrary-fuel-efficiency-goals/

Iran’s attack on Qatar air base hit geodesic dome used for US communications, satellite photos show

Iran’s attack on Qatar air base hit geodesic dome used for US communications, satellite photos show

https://www.yahoo.com/news/satellite-photos-suggest-iran-attack-080943268.html

Trump’s New Trade Deal Has a Clear Winner: Vietnam

“in fairness, tariff-free trade into Vietnam is good news for American farmers and manufacturers that export goods to that country, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has argued. And the reduction in tariffs may marginally increase our exports to Vietnam.

For the vast majority of Americans, however, trade with Vietnam matters on the buying side, not the selling side. For them, this deal accomplishes very little.

The deal also sends a clear signal to other countries that Trump’s promise of reciprocity was bullshit.

Free trade between the U.S. and Vietnam would be a win-win for both countries. That’s not what Trump has delivered with this deal. Vietnamese businesses and consumers got free trade. Americans got more taxes.”

https://reason.com/2025/07/03/trumps-new-trade-deal-has-a-clear-winner-vietnam/

Why the US isn’t scared of Russia’s S-400

Russia’s S-400 anti-air missile batteries are good, but without being integrated into larger defense systems, are vulnerable to air power. U.S. air power out-ranges these missiles, and low flying aircraft can’t be seen because the S-400 by itself can’t see over the horizon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McJAYZfhapo

What to Expect From Trump’s New Trade Drama

Trump’s tariffs have actually retarded U.S. manufacturing rather than bolstered it due to uncertainty and tariffs raising the cost of manufacturing inputs. From the Trump tariffs already put into effect, we haven’t seen huge price jumps as companies frontloaded their inputs to buy time and haven’t yet made pricing decisions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USjlhMDX90w

Deals or No Deal? Trade Lunacy is The New Normal | Raging Moderates

Two percent of working Americans get tips. If you are a waiter who gets tips, you get a tax cut, but if you are a dishwasher who doesn’t get tips, you don’t get a tax cut. If you are getting tips and stay within the bill’s 25k limit, you aren’t paying much taxes to begin with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNjSrXnMY4Y

Inflation Is A Choice: Kevin Warsh On Fixing The Federal Reserve | Uncommon Knowledge

The Federal Reserve took great and new action during the great recession, but they kept many of those policies afterwards, which can be dangerous and is an expansion of the Fed’s power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVFEcg-RIAk

With Environmental Regulatory Reform, California Gov. Gavin Newsom Finally Does Something Substantial

“Without Newsom’s efforts, major CEQA reform would have died on the vine. Another late-breaking housing bill was under consideration as part of the budget, but not subject to Newsom’s ultimatum—but the Legislature caved in to union demands. The Sacramento Bee reports this bill was roughly based on another measure that “allows developers to bypass CEQA review if they agree to pay a certain minimum wage to construction workers.”

Mandating wage boosts drives up the cost of housing construction and weakens the usefulness of these deregulations, but it was an attempt to lessen the degree to which unions use CEQA to slow construction projects to extract concessions. Newsom’s failure to overcome union opposition here is a disappointment, but doesn’t tarnish an otherwise noteworthy effort.”

https://reason.com/2025/07/04/with-environmental-regulatory-reform-california-gov-gavin-newsom-finally-does-something-substantial/