Fed Hikes Interest Rates for First Time in Three Years in Bid to Tamp Down Inflation

/2 Comments/in , /by

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday hiked rates for the first time in three years, an effort to tamp down inflation that drew a muted rebuke from President Trump as the midterms approach.

In a unanimous vote, the Fed raised rates by a quarter point to the 3.75% to 4% range – the first move in rates under Warsh, whom Trump hand-picked after lambasting predecessor Jerome Powell for years for not lowering interest rates fast enough.

“The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long,” Warsh said at a press conference following the vote.

“Today’s action starts to show that we’re serious about this”

Hours after the vote, Trump called for rates to be lowered, though he stopped short of attacking Warsh personally.

“Interest Rates in the United States should be 1%, or less, because we are the Best Credit in the World — BY FAR,” the president wrote on Truth Social. (Read more from “Fed Hikes Interest Rates for First Time in Three Years in Bid to Tamp Down Inflation” HERE)

Duct-Tape Plane Passenger Breaks Silence — and Gives Unbelievable Excuse for Midflight Meltdown

/1 Comment/in , , /by

The American Airlines passenger who had to be duct-taped to his seat after going berserk on a flight to Newark claimed he had no recollection of the mortifying mid-air incident a day after his arrest.

“I don’t remember any of what happened,” Layne Lundeen, 67, said as court proceedings in Annapolis, Maryland, got underway, according to The Banner in Baltimore, which obtained audio of his appearance.

“I assaulted a police officer? Is that what it says?” he reportedly said. “I don’t have my glasses.”

District Court Commissioner George Haag read the accusations against him, as Lundeen moaned, “Oh my God. What a mess. I don’t remember any of it.”

Lundeen’s alleged racist and homophobic tirade was so severe that fellow passengers had to restrain him with duct tape and zip-ties, and the flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Baltimore.

(Read more from “Duct-Tape Plane Passenger Breaks Silence — and Gives Unbelievable Excuse for Midflight Meltdown” HERE)

House Ditching Capitol Hill Early Without Touching AI, Debt Or Mass Surveillance

/0 Comments/in , /by

The House decided to leave Washington, D.C., early for the October recess Wednesday and not return until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer announced the last scheduled votes would take place Wednesday afternoon and canceled all votes expected on Thursday. House leadership canceled session for the last two weeks of September to campaign in the midterm elections, although the national debt, mass surveillance and artificial intelligence (AI) remain unresolved.

Over 100 Democrats urged Johnson to stay in session through September and October to rein in AI risks. Tech leaders warned that AI development must slow down or it could kill all humanity within the next decade.

President Donald Trump called these warnings a “sick conspiracy” and argued no guardrails were needed. Many Republicans, including Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, appeared open to placing some guardrails on AI without stifling innovation.

Other Republicans agreed with Trump that China’s AI development remained a threat to the U.S., while others believed AI needed more regulations.

Speaker Mike Johnson said that the House passed 600 pieces of legislation, including the Safeguard America Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, that are sitting in the Senate. (Read more from “House Ditching Capitol Hill Early Without Touching AI, Debt Or Mass Surveillance” HERE)

AI Leader Says Omnipresent Form Of Media Is So Dangerous He Doesn’t Even Want His Kids Near It

/0 Comments/in , /by

Leading artificial intelligence executive Sam Altman warned that he would not let his own children use short-form content because of its effects on young minds.

The OpenAI CEO said short-form video is “dangerous” and he does not want his kids watching it during an on-stage interview at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. Altman made the remarks after being asked what AI companies should learn from social media’s toll on young people — the issue at the center of Meta’s roughly $17.1 billion settlement on Aug. 26 with states that accused the company of addicting teens to its apps.

“I think we’re going to stay in an extremely human- centric world no matter how good [AI] technology gets, and I think one of the things I didn’t like about social media is, I think, it pushed us a little bit more away,” Altman told Salesforce CEO and chairman Marc Benioff at the conference.

Social media has not been “only positive” for society, especially when looking at the effects on young people, the OpenAI CEO said. He argued that social media companies shouldn’t shoulder the blame for all of society’s problems, but he would have managed the companies differently.

“I happen to like short for video … but I wouldn’t let my kids near that stuff,” Altman said at the conference. “I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect kids to be able to resist that dopamine thing or know that they even should.” (Read more from “AI Leader Says Omnipresent Form Of Media Is So Dangerous He Doesn’t Even Want His Kids Near It” HERE)

China Launches Ambitious National Plan to Reverse Birth Rate Collapse

/0 Comments/in , /by

The director of China’s National Health Commission (NHC) announced during a press conference Monday that the Communist Party will be investing heavily in programs intended to raise the birth rate, particularly in expanding access to pediatric care and child care for working families.

The ambitious program is part of the Communist Party’s “15th Five-Year Plan” to improve the strength of the state generally, which emphasized the need to encourage Chinese citizens to marry and start large families. China has documented a dramatic decline in its birth rate over the past decade, defying the government’s decision to do away with the Mao Zedong-era “one-child policy” in 2015 and ultimately allowing families up to three children before forced government abortions and sterilization.

Despite the legal approval to reproduce, many Chinese citizens have foregone marrying and building families. China’s birth rate hit record lows in 2025, according to official government statistics, and China lost its status as the world’s most populous nation to India in 2023. Complicating factors is the reality of a much more substantial male than female population – estimates suggest China is home to about 33 more men than women – as a result of parents killing girl babies during the “one-child policy” era to try again for a more prestigious son.

Chinese statistics authorities announced in January that the population of China at the end of 2025 was 1.404 billion, down 3 million from the prior year. The birth rate declined 17 percent in a year, resulting in under 8 million births in 2025. Some experts attributed the decline to 2025 mostly overlapping with the Year of the Snake, which many Chinese parents consider inauspicious for giving birth.

Despite the years of discouraging statistics, NHC chief Lei Haichao attempted to present a more optimistic take on the nation’s demographic future during his remarks on Monday, offered to reporters during an event hosted by the country’s State Council Information Office, a formal government propaganda wing. Lei insisted that China was not alone in seeing its birth rate decline, especially among countries with rapid industrialization and growing economies. (Read more from “China Launches Ambitious National Plan to Reverse Birth Rate Collapse” HERE)

Charlie Kirk’s Family Signals Intent to Sue Utah Valley University, School’s Police Department, Chief Jeffrey Long, Others

/2 Comments/in , /by

The family of slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has signaled their intent to sue Utah Valley University and the school’s police department, among others, citing “a series of stunning failures and reckless decisions” that ended in the conservative icon’s assassination last year.

The Kirk family has filed a Notice of Claim against the State of Utah, Utah Valley University (UVU), the Utah Valley University Police Department, Chief Jeffrey Long, and Astrid Tuminez, who was UVU’s president at the time of the assassination, as well as potentially others.

Dangers posed by accessible rooftops on campus went unaddressed — despite repeated warnings — Turning Point USA (TPUSA) said in a statement to Breitbart News, citing a text exchange between TPUSA staff and Utah Valley University Police Department Chief Jeffrey Long.

“Hello Chief Long — we received this message today from the student group…. ‘there is student roof access pretty close to where [Charlie Kirk] will be set up at Utah Valley,’” TPUSA staff wrote to Chief Long.

In their exchange, the TPUSA official added, “If this is true, it would be nice to either have it controlled access or allow one of my guys to be there as well. If Possible,” to which Chief Long replied, “I got you covered,” according to the filing. (Read more from “Charlie Kirk’s Family Signals Intent to Sue Utah Valley University, School’s Police Department, Chief Jeffrey Long, Others” HERE)

U.S. Secretly Removed Accused Pedophile Diplomat From Britain: Report

/3 Comments/in , , /by

American authorities allegedly removed a U.S. diplomat serving in London from the country in a secret operation after he was accused of possessing child porn.

A report from The Sun — Britain’s top circulation newspaper — has claimed that U.S. secret agents carried out a clandestine operation on UK soil without informing local police, seizing an American diplomat from his London flat, taking him to a U.S. air base, and returning him to the United States.

The diplomat was reportedly under investigation after allegedly receiving indecent images of children from his brother. According to the report, American agents received a court order in the U.S. before carrying out the raid on the diplomat’s apartment in Putney, London, on August 25th. An investigation of the flat is said to have confirmed that the diplomat was in possession of the child pornography in question.

The move to remove the unnamed man back to the United States has riled feathers in London given that American officials have no authority to carry out policing operations in the United Kingdom.

A British government source is quoted by The Sun saying: “They should have told Scotland Yard when they carried out the raid, and certainly when they found material. Instead, we think they have taken him to a US airbase and flown him 4,000-plus miles to where his brother was being investigated. We think it was a dawn raid before they then took him to the base in a US military convoy. (Read more from “U.S. Secretly Removed Accused Pedophile Diplomat From Britain: Report” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

US Airman Rescued from Iran Shares Unbelievable Tale of Survival with ‘60 Minutes’: ‘Most Terrifying Thing I’ve Ever Seen’

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The US Air Force colonel rescued from Iran in April revealed Sunday that the “most terrifying moment” of surviving nearly two days on enemy lines was plummeting to earth with a damaged parachute after his F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down.

The weapons systems officer — identified only by the mission call sign Dude 44 Bravo — spoke publicly about his unbelievable tale of survival for the first time in an interview with CBS “60 Minutes” host Norah O’Donnell for the show’s 59th season premiere Sunday evening.

Bravo’s plane was shot down by an Iranian with a shoulder-fired missile on April 3, and crashed in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in the southwestern part of Iran near Iraq.

The impact of the missile was like “getting hit by a freight train,” Bravo said.

His crewmate and pilot, callsign Alpha, ejected them both from the $30 million jet, but Bravo’s parachute failed to inflate, he said.

“My parachute was damaged in the initial attack. At one point, when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” the heroic officer told O’Donnell. (Read more from “US Airman Rescued from Iran Shares Unbelievable Tale of Survival with ‘60 Minutes’: ‘Most Terrifying Thing I’ve Ever Seen’” HERE)

Bill Clinton Reveals Why the CIA Told Him not to Take out Bin Laden Before 9/11

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Former President Bill Clinton revealed on Sunday that the CIA abandoned a plan to take out Osama bin Laden before 9/11 over fears that innocent civilians could die if the risky operation went sideways.

Clinton, 80, spoke about the spy agency’s reasoning during a radio interview on WABC’s “Cats Roundtable” show with host John Catsimatidis — and reflected on how he “immediately” knew the al Qaeda leader was responsible for the terror attacks while watching them unfold.

“I had authorized the CIA to try to take him out,” Clinton told Catsimatidis, adding that he told the agency it would have been good to capture bin Laden alive, but the main priority was to stop him.

“I was scared, and I was mad because we tried to get him before, and the CIA at the last minute killed the plan that I think might well have succeeded,” the former Democratic president said.

“But they were afraid that if they missed, they’d kill a lot of innocent civilians. They didn’t want to run the risk. I didn’t second-guess them, but I think, in the end, [bin Laden] was determined to do what he did, and he had lots of money and lots of capacity,” Clinton reflected. (Read more from “Bill Clinton Reveals Why the CIA Told Him not to Take out Bin Laden Before 9/11” HERE)

Alaskan Boy, 15, Who Survived 62 Hours at Sea Makes Horrifying Revelation after Being Rescued

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A 15-year-old Alaskan boy rescued from a capsized boat after three days made a horrifying revelation when he was pulled to safety by a passing fishing vessel.

Derek Parker Aghnaanga had been fishing for halibut along with his cousin and brother when their small skiff overturned near St. Lawrence Island and drifted into the Bering Sea Sept. 4.

He was the only survivor, and watched his brother and cousin die.

“Through the teeth chattering, he had mentioned that his brother was still under the skiff and then he said that in the previous night before our rescue that his cousin had slipped away off the top of the skiff,” Adam White, captain of the Northwest Explorer, told Alaska’s News Source.

The Coast Guard spotted the teen clinging to his capsized skiff at around 10:30 a.m. Monday, after Alaska State Troopers notified them on Sunday night that the party hadn’t returned home, and asked the Northwest Explorer and its crew of 13 to pick him up.

“We saw the unusual object on the horizon. We blasted our horn a couple times,” White said. (Read more from “Alaskan Boy, 15, Who Survived 62 Hours at Sea Makes Horrifying Revelation after Being Rescued” HERE)

Photo credit: Facebook/@vina.kulowiyi