[American Thinker] Absent sound money, a modern economy would revert to primitive barter where a cow might cost three goats. The introduction of money, at least in principle, solved relying on barter, but this also brought counterfeiting. Now, a dishonest person might debase a coin’s true value by filing off their edges or minting fake coins that replaced silver with lead. The rise of paper money similarly invited deceit -- inflation -- when cash-strapped governments just printed yet more paper currency until only the paper had value, so this "money" became wallpaper, even toilet paper.
Governments thus have strict laws regarding debasing currency. When Issac Newton was appointed Warden of the Royal Mint in 1695, he tortured and executed counterfeiters. Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution assigns the federal government the power to coin and regulate the currency and the power to punish counterfeiting. Section 10 prohibits states from issuing money other than those made from silver or gold. Today, many fear that the U.S. Treasury will render the dollar valueless by printing up trillions of greenbacks.
Both the dollar and the English language are mediums of exchange, and just as a dollar bill can become worthless, words can deteriorate into gobbledygook. Unfortunately, with no Secret Service to prevent linguistic debasement, American politics seems to be undergoing an epidemic-like linguistic inflation akin to the German currency inflation of 1923 when the mark became virtually valueless. It is not that English is adding new words or that old words evolve; rather, innumerable words are losing their original meaning, a situation akin to a currency becoming valueless.
Such "linguistic inflation" is particularly evident in the victimhood vocabulary where terms are stretched into meaninglessness for political gain. "Racism" is undoubtedly the most extreme example, and almost anything can now be deemed "racist." Like gravity, racism is everywhere and like gravity, its impact is, allegedly, undeniable. Indeed, inventing new forms of racism has become a thriving industry and its inventors often claim "racism" can be nearly invisible ("implicit racial bias") and atmospheric in its impact -- "systemic racism" and "structural racism."
A similarly linguistic debasement afflicts "hate." What was once just a strong aversion, dislike or loathing has been transformed into mere disagreement. Now, objection to same-sex marriage has been redefined as hating homosexuals, so opposition to a court-mandated public policy makes one "homophobic." Ditto for disagreeing with those endorsing surgery to alter a person’s biological sex or allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports -- all, allegedly, "transphobic." Significantly, appending "phobic" to this newly expanded hate definition conveys an element of mental illness implying that the cure for hate in not reasoned rejoinders but mental counseling.
Continued on Page 47
#2
"Racism" is undoubtedly the most extreme example, and almost anything can now be deemed "racist."
Seem Nazi is the in vogue hate word that is hurled like the other 'n' word. No understanding of what it is, just pure vitriolic mindless guttural hate.
I'll tell you what I saw the other day in regards to linguistic debasement. There were two diversity peoples and they had so much in common in being diversity clients and being on American Soil but outside of that, not so much, and they both didnt know a lick of English. It was a retail food vendor, and they did not have a common language to share and something went south with the man's order. They just grunted and pointed and made head & hand gestures until some compromise was found.
[FoxNews] I’ve traveled to homeless encampments all over America, from tucked-away Manhattan underpasses to the sprawling chaos of San Francisco's Tenderloin
When the ambulance arrived in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia two years ago, an angry EMT got out and barked at the crowd, "Who called this in?"
Standing next to my cameraman and above the prone body of a shirtless soul bedecked in boils and not moving, I said, "I did." He didn’t say a word, he looked at me, then down the street at the dozens of strung out bodies, then back at me as if to say, "Look at all this, what do you want me to do?"
I had no answer.
Last week, President Donald Trump did answer that question with a much-welcome executive order (EO) intended to bring back civil commitment, in other words, the ability to put people who are a danger to themselves or others in institutions, even against their will.
Civil libertarians are in a tizzy over the EO. They insist this is an abuse of due process and harkens to the bad old days, when hundreds of thousands of Americans were committed to mental institutions, sometimes for dubious reasons.
But in examining and judging Trump’s proposed policy here, it is important to understand and accept what the status quo on the ground is right now, and it is nothing short of horrific.
I’ve traveled to homeless encampments all over America, from tucked-away Manhattan underpasses to the sprawling chaos of San Francisco's Tenderloin, a place you literally smell a block before you enter.
In these encampments, your gag reflex is challenged by needles sticking out of necks and mountains of human detritus, but the real soul-crushing, existential sadness comes from knowing that these human beings are just being left to die.
For decades now, Democrats have spent endless dollars on fruitless efforts to fix the homeless problem. In California alone, Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent $20 billion on failing to fix it, and only recently admitted the encampments have to go.
What the Trump administration realizes is that Democrats refuse to accept is that homelessness is, actually, two very distinct problems. One is financial, the other is a matter of addiction and mental health.
Financial homelessness is fairly easy to address. The evicted mother living in her car can be given temporary housing and job assistance. She really does just need a hand up.
San Francisco weighs ban on homeless people living in RVsVideo
Homelessness related to mental illness and addiction, however, isn’t really a homelessness problem at all, it's an addiction and mental illness problem, and shockingly, just letting people in tents shoot up in what was once a thriving commercial district doesn’t solve it.
As I have wandered the streets of these hellscapes in city after city, my question hasn’t really been if these people would be better off in an institution, but rather, if they weren’t in a de facto open-air institution already.
What does it matter if these places lack walls and locks? They are cages nonetheless, cruel prisons whether voluntary or not.
Opponents of civil commitment insist you cannot take away people’s freedom! But freedom to do what? Shoot fentanyl every day until they die on a curbside, pockets rifled by another desperate junkie?
If it was your child on these broken and brutal streets of death, would you want them to be left in freedom to waste away, or would you want them taken somewhere where they could be protected and helped?
Opponents will say that civil commitment can be abused. They will point to the 1950s when homosexuals were sent to institutions, but it's not 1950. We aren’t going to institutionalize gay people, and we cannot be paralyzed by a bigoted past when trying to save lives today.
Could there be abuses or mistakes made regarding civil commitment? Sure, but people are dying in the streets right now, and we must trust ourselves to actively help them, without stepping over the line.
Annoyed with me, or not, that day in Kensington, the EMT revived the man at my feet, who, it turns out, wasn’t dead, after all. Instead, he was angry, because the Narcan that woke him up also negated the high he had paid for.
There are really only two sides to be on here: the side that says we are going to do everything we can to save that man’s life, even against his will, or the side that condemns him to an open-air prison of his own making.
#3
Civil libertarians are in a tizzy over the EO. They insist this is an abuse of due process and harkens to the bad old days, when hundreds of thousands of Americans were committed to mental institutions, sometimes for dubious reasons.
This is what they say out of one side of their mouths. On the other side they blame Ronald Reagan for closing the mental institutions and thereby causing the current homeless crisis. There is just no pleasing some people.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/30/2025 11:45 Comments ||
Top||
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Savin
[REGNUM] On July 27, Venezuela held new elections, the seventh in the past year. The people elected 335 mayors and municipal council representatives.
Even under Hugo Chavez, the practice of holding referendums on a variety of issues simultaneously with elections began to spread. Projects submitted to the vote on the day of municipal elections strengthen the political tradition of self-government, which is being developed by the ruling coalition. This is what happened this time.
According to the National Electoral Council, applications were received from 148,554 candidates, of whom more than 10,000 were seeking the positions of mayor.
A total of 36 national political organizations, 10 regional and 7 indigenous organizations participated in the elections. Voter turnout was about 44%, which is in line with the figures for previous municipal elections.
After the first counts, it became known that the Chavistas won in 285 of 335 cities and installed their supporters as mayors there. They won, including in 23 of 24 state capitals, losing to the opposition only in San Carlos, the capital of the state of Cojedes.
President Nicolas Maduro dedicated the current victory to Comandante Hugo Chavez, who would have turned 71 on July 28.
But he will be forever dead, a much better proposition for all involved. Now they just need to get rid of his spiritual heirs.
The results show that the coalition of political forces "Great Patriotic Pole" (Gran Polo Patriótico Simón Bolívar), led by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, improved its result compared to the 2021 elections, when the Chavistas won in 212 municipalities.
At the same time, the radical pro-Washington opposition regularly boycotts elections, although a year ago it tried to nominate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is wanted by the police, for the post of president.
The recent elections completed the constitutional electoral cycle that began with the re-election of Maduro on July 28, 2024, and continued with the elections of deputies to the National Assembly, governors and members of regional legislative councils on May 25, 2025.
The July 27 elections also included voting on various initiatives related to the development of youth policy, which demonstrates the desire of the “Great Patriotic Pole” to maintain continuity and loyalty to the cause of the Bolivarian Revolution, raising politically active and patriotic future generations.
Speaking after the successful elections for the Chavistas, the head of the National Electoral Council, Elvis Amoroso, thanked the country's youth for their productive participation in the process, as well as those who organized the electoral process and those who ensured its security.
On the eve of the elections, a Regnum correspondent managed to talk to Venezuelan Air Force Division General Joel Sanchez, who noted that the country's armed forces are now focusing on youth and the training of new high-quality personnel who will defend the country's sovereignty in the spirit of the values of the Bolivarian Revolution.
By the way, Venezuela always strives to invite as many international observers as possible to the elections in order to demonstrate the transparency of the process and electoral guarantees.
This time there were several hundred external observers, including citizens of Russia, the United States and EU countries. In total, there were about one and a half thousand observers, both Venezuelans and foreigners, according to Amoroso. In addition, there were many journalists from different countries.
The Chavistas have learned the lessons of the opposition's past victories, when it won a majority in the National Assembly and effectively paralyzed the country's political life.
And the population has become more supportive of the Maduro government after the pogroms that took place in July last year and were organized with the direct assistance of Washington - at that time, foreign mercenaries who acted as the shock force for organizing the coup d'etat were detained.
Thus, in the state of Miranda, which adjoins the capital district and has long been the electoral base of opposition leader Juan Guaido, the Chavist Elio Serrano previously won the gubernatorial elections, and other representatives of the “Great Patriotic Pole” also won the current mayoral elections.
The opposition there is still oriented toward the United States, but now the instruments of influence on the masses have been knocked out of its hands. That is why the elections were quite calm: there were no excesses or attempts to cause riots at the polling stations.
After the presidential elections in July 2024, the country has clearly seen changes for the better, which is immediately obvious.
A large number of facilities are being built in different areas of Caracas, the infrastructure is stable, the stores are full of goods. In general, a completely normal life indicates that Western sanctions and political pressure have not broken the country.
Although attempts continue even now: the Donald Trump administration has adopted a new package of sanctions aimed at restricting the work of American oil production companies.
One of the White House's latest initiatives is to arrest hundreds of Venezuelans in the United States and deport them to El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele has proposed using prisons to hold migrants from Latin American countries. No credible charges have been brought against the Venezuelans.
By the way, even before the results were announced, the US State Department had another fit of hatred towards Venezuela. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media: "Maduro is not the president, his government is illegitimate, and he himself leads the Los Solos cartel, which is a narco-terrorist organization."
In foreign policy, Venezuela follows the same course as Russia – towards a multipolar world. In addition to Moscow, important partners of Caracas are Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, China and the DPRK, as well as a number of African countries that are emerging from the influence of the West.
[Daily Mail, ehere America gets its news] The US economy grew more than expected in the second quarter of the year, diminishing fears of a recession.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew at three percent in the April through June period.
That was considerably better than the 2.3 percent anticipated by analysts. Unexpectedly™!
The figures demonstrate a rebound after the economy contracted at the start of the year.
The unexpected pace was largely driven by a turnaround in the trade imbalance and renewed consumer strength.
President Trump described the data as 'WAY BETTER THAN EXPECTED!' in a post on Truth Social.
Trump added that the positive data should push the Federal Reserve into lowering interest rates at its decision announcement this afternoon.
'MUST NOW LOWER THE RATE. No Inflation! Let people buy, and refinance, their homes!' the president wrote.
However, analysts believe the strong data will mean the Fed is comfortable sticking to its cautious strategy.
'The strength in these numbers likely puts to bed the possibility of a rate cut from the Fed who are due to meet later today,' Isaac Stell, Investment Manager at Wealth Club said.
'Despite continuing public pressure from President Trump, Powell and co are likely to rebuff requests for rate cuts and keep a steady footing whilst the economy shows no clear signs of tripping up,' she added.
The S&P 500 rose slightly at market open, less than 0.1 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 0.13 percent.
Consumer spending rose 1.4 percent in the second quarter, better than the 0.5 percent in the first three months of the year.
In the first quarter imports surged as businesses tried to stock up on goods ahead of tariffs, however in the last quarter imports fell 30.3 percent.
Although exports dipped 1.8 percent in the period the drop in imports helped to ease the imbalance.
Continued on Page 47
[IsraelTimes] Over 500 strikes launched on terror group, killing 230 operatives and taking out infrastructure since November; 1,280 complaints lodged with US-led committee
The Israel Defense Forces assesses that its achievements against Hezbollah since a November ceasefire could potentially bring the Lebanese terror group to complete disarmament, military officials said Tuesday.
The assessment comes as the IDF — since the ceasefire agreement came into effect — has maintained a presence at five strategic points in Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... and carries out near-daily Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure it says are violating the conditions of the truce. It also comes amid growing calls in Lebanon for the terror group to hand over its weapons.
Since the beginning of the ceasefire, the IDF says it has carried out over 500 airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, killing at least 230 operatives — the latest on Monday — and destroying over 90 rocket launchers and thousands of rockets, 20 command centers, 40 weapon depots, and five arms production sites, alongside other infrastructure.
The military has also conducted hundreds of ground operations in southern Lebanon, especially in recent months, mostly within the areas near the five posts.
Troops have located caches of weapons and have destroyed infrastructure during these ground operations, the IDF has said.
On Monday, The Times of Israel and other media outlets visited one of the outposts, located just north of Metula.
"We are pushing away every threat and eliminating anyone who tries to threaten and approach the border area," outgoing IDF Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin told news hounds at the army post. "We are constantly on forward defense and continue to strengthen and fortify it, so that the forces here can carry out strong and significant defense against Hezbollah."
"Hezbollah is far from us, and we strike it at every opportunity," he said.
As part of the ceasefire deal, the United States chairs a committee made up of representatives from La Belle France, Israel, Lebanon, and the UNIFIL observer force, through which the sides can lodge complaints of violations.
Israel had filed some 1,280 complaints to the committee as of Monday, including 670 that the Lebanese Armed Forces were asked to enforce and 530 after the IDF carried out airstrikes against the alleged violations, the military said.
Of the 670 complaints the LAF was requested to enforce, it dealt with 456. Another 80 were enforced by the IDF with airstrikes, and 18 violations were closed for "being irrelevant."
Military officials have said that the Lebanese army has been improving with its activities to dismantle Hezbollah, but is still not working as fast as they would like to see.
Still, Hezbollah is considered by the IDF to have been heavily degraded, mostly as a result of the two months of open warfare between September and November. But military officials said that 25-30 percent of the IDF’s achievements against Hezbollah have actually been achieved since the ceasefire, in the strikes aimed at preventing the group from regrouping and rearming.
Out of the terror group’s estimated 25,000 conscripted operatives, between 4,000 and 5,000 were killed and another 9,000 were maimed and are unable to fight, according to the IDF’s assessments. Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force is dealing with similar numbers, with just over half of its 6,000 operatives eliminated or badly maimed.
Hezbollah’s leadership was also wiped out during the war, including at the tactical level, and the IDF has assessed that the group is unable to fill its ranks.
In terms of firepower, Israel claims to have destroyed 70-80% of the group’s rocket fire capabilities. The IDF has estimated that Hezbollah possesses several thousand rockets — the vast majority of them short-range projectiles like mortars, and only several hundred long-range ones.
Most of Hezbollah’s weapons are located in areas north of the Litani River, according to IDF assessments, after the military destroyed the terror group’s infrastructure in the border villages.
There have been limited attempts to restore capabilities in the border villages, to which displaced Lebanese civilians have not yet returned, according to the military.
The IDF, meanwhile, has been operating to thwart any attempt by Hezbollah to build up its capabilities again, in all areas of Lebanon, not just in the south. Earlier this month, the IDF said it bombed a Radwan force training camp in Lebanon’s northeastern Beqaa Valley, and last month struck underground Hezbollah drone factories in Beirut, among other strikes.
Another circumstance that military officials said contributed to the weakening of Hezbollah was the fall of the Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... regime in Syria in December, cutting off the Lebanese terror group’s weapons smuggling route from Iran.
Highlighting Hezbollah’s weakened position, the terror group did not come to the assistance of Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... when Israel launched a war against Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs last month.
Hezbollah secretary general Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... received several requests — not orders — from Iran to join the war in June, but declined, according to IDF officials.
The military assesses that Hezbollah senses low confidence inside the group in acting against Israel at this time, and is more focused on trying to restore its capabilities, an effort that could be harmed further should it attack Israel.
The IDF has also seen growing calls in Lebanon for the demilitarization of Hezbollah, though Qassem said this month that his group would not surrender or lay down its weapons, despite the pressure from Lebanon’s Western-backed government demanding that it disarm.
An IDF official said that the "achievements against Hezbollah would enable the goal of disarming Hezbollah."
Speaking to news hounds at the army post in Lebanon, Gordin said, "I believe it would be very wise and beneficial for the state of Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah. The greatest damage Lebanon has suffered was because of Hezbollah, and it would be best if it no longer existed."
The IDF, meanwhile, said it seeks to continue to prevent Hezbollah from building up its infrastructure and weapons, and at the same time maintain its presence in southern Lebanon to thwart any potential attack on Israel.
"We will stay here for as long as needed and will provide strong and significant defense for the residents of the north," Gordin said. Israeli officials have previously said that the IDF would only withdraw from the five points in Lebanon if Hezbollah disarms.
Israel and Hezbollah engaged in hostilities for over a year after the Lebanese terror group began firing at Israel, unprovoked, in solidarity with its ally Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... and its massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The rocket fire displaced some 60,000 residents of northern Israel. In a bid to ensure their safe return, Israel stepped up operations in Lebanon in September, leading to two months of open warfare with Hezbollah in which the terror group’s leadership and arsenal were decimated.
As of Tuesday, 74% of Israelis displaced from the north have returned to their homes. In some towns like Metula and Manara, very few residents have returned.
"I believe the security situation on the northern border is very good. The threats are very far away, and there are no immediate threats to the border area, the communities, or the residents. I think it’s been decades since we’ve had a security situation as good as the one we have today," Gordin added.
Continued on Page 47
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[FoxNews] I’ve traveled to homeless encampments all over America, from tucked-away Manhattan underpasses to the sprawling chaos of San Francisco's Tenderloin
I’ve traveled to 
Could there be abuses or mistakes made regarding civil commitment? Sure, but people are dying in the streets right now, and we must trust ourselves to actively help them, without stepping over the line.
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
