"A recession by any other name smells just as stinky.

"When the stock market wreaks havoc on your retirement savings and inflation starts cutting into your paycheck, you are feeling the pinch of recession. When persistently high gas prices make you reluctant to travel and you switch to drumsticks and thighs instead of chicken wings and breasts because they're cheaper, you're feeling the pinch of recession.

"But that's not the true standard for a recession. The standard, in short, is that two consecutive quarters of negative growth make for a recession.

"It is widely expected based on available data that the report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday will show that the country's real gross domestic product shrank again in the second quarter of 2022. That will be the second quarter in a row of negative growth, which means it will come with the additional determination that the United States has been in a recession since January.

"This prospect has the Biden administration in a comical sort of falling-all-over-themselves panic. That's because President Joe Biden's defenders are now attempting to massage the definition of 'recession' so that the current economic contraction no longer qualifies."

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"An overwhelming majority of Americans believe Congress is inept, broken and hopelessly addicted to maintaining power while acting far too much like drunken sophomores on Twitter. And most people believe Capitol Hill can't get the most basic things done even when there's bipartisan agreement. Hence its 16 percent approval rating.

"On the things-that-should-be-done-but-haven't-or-whatever-reason front, legislation exists that would prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks. It's called the Banning Insider Trading in Congress Act and it would prohibit members of Congress and their spouses from trading individual stocks.

"For those who live in a sane world wallpapered in logic, this proposal makes perfect sense. Why? Because currently lawmakers can pass legislation that creates favorable conditions for certain companies or industries, and if a lawmaker knows that this legislation will pass, he or she could profit off it. ...

"One very senior lawmaker who seems lukewarm at best about this proposal is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). When first asked about the plan late last year, she was dismissive. ...

"Now more eyes are turning to Paul Pelosi, the House Speaker's husband. From a trading perspective, he's like the real-life version of Gordon Gekko from the 1987 Oliver Stone classic 'Wall Street.' His portfolio has substantially outperformed the S&P 500. In 2020 alone, a year when the stock market was as turbulent as in any year in recent memory thanks to COVID-19 shutdowns, Paul outperformed the S&P 500 by 14.3 percent, according to Hawley's office. And per a New York Post analysis, the Pelosis have made approximately $30 million from trades involving Big Tech companies the House speaker is responsible for regulating."

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"No wonder there's political pushback to environmental grandstanding. The Netherlands has been roiled by protests since the government mandated in June that nitrogen-oxide and ammonia emissions, which are produced by livestock, must be slashed by 70% to 80% in some parts of the country. As many as 40,000 farmers demonstrated against the measure last month. Holland is among the world's 10 largest food exporters, and these policies would decimate the country's agriculture industry while global hunger is rising.

"Sri Lanka is the epitome of elite environmentalism gone wrong. Pushed to go organic by activists and the World Economic Forum, the government banned synthetic fertilizers in April 2021. Food production collapsed and the currency defaulted. Hungry and outraged citizens launched protests, overran the presidential palace, and forced the government to resign en masse and the president to flee the country.

"It's entirely possible to help the climate and working families at the same time. The policies to do so are innovation-focused. Policy makers need to recognize that they simply can't eliminate fossil fuels with current technologies. The world gets almost 80% of its energy from fossil fuels, and even if all current climate policies were fully implemented, by midcentury fossil fuels would still provide more than half of all energy used world-wide, according to the International Energy Agency. Instead of sending energy prices sky-high by trying to force a transition to renewables prematurely, policy makers should focus on funding research to develop clean energy sources that are actually affordable and reliable. And instead of badgering farmers to go organic, governments should invest in research to develop varieties of crops and agricultural practices that deliver higher yields with a smaller environmental footprint."

"Big-city Democratic mayors such as New York's Eric Adams and DC's Muriel Bowser have realized, suddenly, that illegal immigrants are straining their social safety nets.

"They're accusing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, but there's only one person to blame: President Biden.

"It was only ever the Biden government that did this, starting on inauguration day 2021, with radical policies gutting detention and deportation. They unleashed a mass migration crisis far beyond anything in the American experience, one that has utterly smashed every single illegal immigration record on the books.

"As things stand, well over 2 million border crossers have fanned out across America. Millions more will be granted admittance in the next two years if the administration stays this course. By the end of Biden's term, at this rate, the number of people let in at the border will probably exceed 6 million.

"Where did these mayors think all these people were going after Border Patrol processes and releases them into the interior on an honor system to report one day to their local ICE office?"

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"When policies fail, as Biden's have on so many issues, smart politicians adapt. But Biden's policies are as stiff as his gait, as awkward as his confused answers to reporters' questions. He hasn't altered a single major policy -- not on energy, the open border, reckless government spending, anything -- and he hasn't fired a single adviser.

"Why hasn't Biden changed his energy policies, despite the obvious troubles? Because he would rather not face the wrath of green energy advocates in his party. He knows that if he changes course, he wouldn't just be confronting a few activists. He would have to confront most of his party, which is deeply committed to renewable energy and willing to pay a high price, politically and economically, for the transition.

"Voters shouldn't be surprised at Biden's stringent environmental policies. He promised them as a candidate, and he is delivering them as president. He began on his first day in office, when he canceled the Keystone Pipeline. The cancellation was more than virtue signaling. It was a portent of policies to come -- policies that have stymied fossil fuel production, refining, and distribution. What was unexpected was the price shock that followed the Ukraine invasion."

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"An expert advisory panel for the Homeland Security Department on Monday evening issued a sobering rebuke of the Biden administration, declaring that there was no need to have created a Disinformation Governance Board.

"'We have now had briefings on the relevant disinformation-related activities of the Department. We are not ready, as of yet, to provide recommendations on the Department's most effective approach to disinformation threats, including commitments to increase transparency and protect civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy,' the panel wrote in a short memo.

"'However, at this point, we have concluded that there is no need for a Disinformation Governance Board,' it added."

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"The Biden administration dramatically reduced migrant prosecutions by nearly 80 percent in the 2021 fiscal year, even as illegal crossings skyrocketed.

Just 2,896 migrants apprehended on the southwest border were transferred into U.S. Marshals Service custody in the 2021 fiscal year, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. In the 2020 fiscal year, 13,213 migrants were transferred to federal authorities for prosecution.

The precipitous drop in migrant prosecutions illustrates President Joe Biden's break from prior administrations' policies toward illegal immigration. Refraining from bringing criminal charges against the vast majority of individuals entering the country illegally also provides evidence for critics who say the White House is exacerbating the migration crisis on the southern border.

The decline in prosecutions for illegal border crossings also happened amid the worst border crisis in U.S. history. Migrant encounters on the southern border exceeded two million in 2021."

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"The average U.S. worker has lost $3,400 in annual income as a result of skyrocketing inflation since President Biden took office nearly 18 months ago.

Overall, the Consumer Price Index, a key inflation measurement, surged 9.1% year-over-year in June, a more-than-expected increase that marked its highest level since November 1981, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Wednesday. The decline amounts to a roughly $3,400 yearly income decrease for the average worker and a $6,800 reduction for families in which both parents work, E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told FOX Business.

'There are plenty of families that that's more than their food budget a year,' Antoni told Fox Business in an interview. 'I can't emphasize enough how much this is really crushing consumers.'"

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"Starbucks is closing 16 of its stores nationwide, including one in Washington, D.C ., after store managers reported an increase in drug use among customers in major cities across the United States.

Six of the stores will be closed in Los Angeles, six in the coffee giant's hometown of Seattle , two in Portland, Oregon, one in Washington, D.C., and one in Philadelphia by the end of the month. The employees of the affected stores will be reassigned to other stores in the area.

Although the company is only closing 16 out of its nearly 9,000 stores nationwide, the closures come as employees report feeling unsafe in the stores because employees say they are witnessing an increase in drug use, thefts, and assaults, according to the Wall Street Journal."

"In June 2021, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism asked people in 46 countries how much they trust their nation's media. The results were devastating for American journalism -- the United States came in last place.

"American media are the least trusted in the world. Only 29% of the American people trust the media, the survey found, the very bottom of the international barrel. (Finland is in first place, with 65% saying they trust their media. Canadian media, for comparison's sake, enjoy a 45% level of trust.)

"Most reporters when they hear this will think, 'There's something wrong with the American people.' Most Americans will think, 'There's something wrong with the media.'"

Read the entire article here.