Existing Home Sales Slip 2.5 Percent in August as Prices Climb

Home for sale

Existing home sales fell in August, while sale prices continued to climb, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors.

Existing home sales fell 2.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.86 million. That’s down 4.2% from one year ago.

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Commentary: Make America Healthy Again

Salad

Nearly 50 percent of American children and almost three-quarters of adult Americans are obese or overweight. Forty percent of 18-year-olds have a diagnosed mental health issue. Autism incidence has risen from 1 in 150 to 1 in 36 since 2000—in California it is 1 in 22. Americans aren’t just sick. They’re being destroyed.

That’s the conclusion that Calley and Casey Means draw in their #1 New York Times bestselling book, Good Energy. In the book—as well as in a fascinating interview with Tucker Carlson—the Means lay out a case against Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, and Big Government. And their work has caught the ear of both Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) and Donald Trump, who are now running on a unity ticket to make America healthy again.

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158 House Democrats Vote Against Deporting Illegal Immigrant Sex Offenders

The U.S. House passed a bill to deport illegal foreign nationals convicted of domestic violence and sex-related offenses, including sex crimes against children, but not without controversy.

Nearly all Democrats voted against the bill filed by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC, the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, on Thursday. They attacked the bill before they voted on it; Mace said their remarks were “shameful.”

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With August CBP Data, Illegal Border Crossers Top 2.75 Million This Year

More than 2.75 million foreign nationals have illegally crossed the U.S. border so far this fiscal year.

That total represents nationwide encounters and apprehensions at ports of entry and between ports of entry, including at the northern and southwest borders. Combined, they total 2,756,646 after U.S. Customs and Border Protection released August data. The federal government’s fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

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DeSantis Says He Wants Life in Prison for Routh

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday the state has the jurisdiction to prosecute Ryan Wesley Routh for attempted murder and will be more transparent in its investigation than the federal government.

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House Committee Demands Answers on Walz’s China Connections

Tim Walz

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is demanding answers about any ties Democratic vice-presidential candidate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has to the Communist Party of China. Walz has said he’s proud of his ties to China dating to 1989.

The committee has spent several years investigating CCP political warfare operations involving influencing “important figures in elite political circles to the benefit of the communist People’s Republic of China.”

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FBI Report Estimates $5.6 Billion in Cryptocurrency Fraud Losses

Currency, cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency scams and fraud in 2023 contributed to an estimated $5.6 billion in losses, a report from one of the federal government’s top law enforcement agencies says. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cryptocurrency Fraud Report for 2023 found that the vast majority of losses – about $3.9 million – were related to cryptocurrency investment scams. 

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Billions Gone and Little to Show for It Years After Rampant COVID Fraud

Capitol Money

Years after the passage of federal COVID-era relief and the subsequent loss of likely hundreds of billions of those taxpayer dollars, lawmakers are still unsure where that money went, how to get it back, and seemingly have done little to prevent it from happening again.

Federal watchdog and other reports estimate anywhere from $200 billion to half a trillion was lost to waste, fraud and abuse across various federal and state COVID-era programs.

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U.S. Borrowing Tops $1.9 Trillion So Far This Year

The federal government borrowed $1.9 trillion in the first eleven months of fiscal year 2024, including $380 billion in August, a startling amount as federal watchdogs sound the alarm on spending.

Those borrowing figures come from the latest Monthly Treasury Statement from the Treasury Department.

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FBI: Second Assassination Attempt on Donald Trump Thwarted, Gunman Arrested

U.S. Secret Service agents shot at and later arrested a man with an AK-47 rifle near Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach, Fla., golf club Sunday afternoon while Trump was on the course. The FBI said it is investigating the incident as an attempted assassination of the former president, the second in two months.

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Twice the Number of ICE Detainers Issued Under Trump than Biden, Analysis Reveals

Suspected Illegal Border Crossers

Twice the number of detainers were issued for criminal illegal foreign nationals under the Trump administration than the Biden administration, according to a new analysis of federal data published by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The nonprofit data research center is affiliated with the Newhouse School of Public Communications and Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.

Detainers are issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), otherwise known as “immigration holds,” to apprehend and detain often violent individuals wanted for a crime in another country, arrested or convicted of one in the U.S., or placed in removal proceedings by a federal immigration judge.

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Feds Call Vote Certification a ‘Special Security Event’ Ahead of 2025 Count

Alejandro Mayorkas

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday said the 2025 vote count would be designated a “National Special Security Event.” 

The first-time designation comes after supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while Congress was certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory.

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Since 2021, U.S. Has Seen Greatest Number of Canadian Illegal Border Crossers in History

People crossing the U.S. Northern border

by Bethany Blankley   The greatest number of Canadians who’ve illegally entered the U.S. or attempted to illegally enter in recorded U.S. history has been reported under the Biden-Harris administration and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration. Since fiscal 2021 through July 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 150,701 Canadians illegally…

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Federal Government Could Slash Oil Lease Opportunities in a Top Producing State

Oil Rig

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s updated Resource Management Plan for North Dakota could cost the state $34 million a year for the next 30 years, North Dakota officials said in a protest filed with the agency.

The plan announced in August bans oil and gas leased on 4 million acres, which is about 99% of federal lands in the state, according to Gov. Doug Burgum. Forty-four percent of federally-owned fluid mineral acreage would also not be available for leasing.

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Bipartisan Group of 42 Attorneys General Demand Health Warning on Social Media

Kid on phone

A bipartisan group of state attorneys general sent Congress a letter Monday, urging lawmakers to pass a bill that requires a U.S. surgeon general on every algorithm-driven social media platform.

Forty-two state attorneys general, led by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, signed onto the letter. Rosenblum serves as the President of the National Association of Attorneys General.

The move comes as United States Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy called for this to happen in June.

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House Votes to Ban Chinese-Based Company’s EV Batteries from Homeland Security

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would prohibit electric-vehicle batteries from Gotion and several other foreign companies from being used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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ICE Incapable of Monitoring Unaccompanied Minors Released into U.S., Inspector General Says

Illegal migrants at border

The Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a management alert to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make it aware of an urgent issue: ICE is incapable of monitoring hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied children (UACs) released into the country by the Biden-Harris administration.

“We found ICE cannot always monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children who are released from DHS and HHS custody,” HHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari said in a memo to the deputy director of ICE.

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23 States Ask Supreme Court to Reverse Energy-Related Decision

LA AG

Twenty-three states are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision that the attorneys general say could be a threat to the energy industry.

A brief filed this week by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and 22 other attorneys general wants the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out the decision, saying that it is as much about “federalism and state sovereignty as it is about environmental law.”

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Deadline to Replace Stolen Food Stamp or SNAP Benefits Looms

The deadline to replace Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for recipients whose benefits were electronically stolen or skimmed is fast approaching.

A September 30, 2024, deadline looms for those who had their benefits stolen between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2024, to replace their lost benefits. This comes after Congress passed a law in December 2022, hoping to reduce SNAP benefit theft; the law set this deadline to replace benefits. People must file their claims within 30 days of the theft occurring to ensure they receive payment.

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Walz Subpoenaed for Oversight of $250 Million Fraud Scheme

Tim Walz

Reputation associated with his military record already shattered, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz now faces a reckoning tied to a signature education accomplishment – feeding schoolchildren – from a congressional committee chaired by a North Carolina congresswoman.

Called the “largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the nation,” U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., on Wednesday sent a letter and subpoena to Walz and his state administration associated with the federal child nutrition programs and Feeding Our Future, and to the Biden administration’s U.S. Department of Agriculture and its Office of Inspector General.

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Florida Sues over Violent Foreign Nationals Being Released from Prison into U.S.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody

The state of Florida is suing the Biden-Harris administration to obtain information on how many illegal foreign nationals convicted of violent crimes who served time in prison were released into the U.S. instead of being deported.

“Historically, when illegal aliens were brought to the U.S. to be prosecuted for their crimes, it was well understood that the aliens would be deported once they have served their sentence,” Florida’s lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Ashley Moody, states. “That was until the Biden-Harris Administration implemented their shockingly irresponsible immigration policy, pushing unknown numbers of dangerous criminals straight from federal prison into our communities and causing chaos, anarchy, and crime.”

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New Poll Finds 90 Percent Say Home Ownership is Out of Reach

Couple Looks for a Home

Only 10 percent of those surveyed in a new poll said the “American dream” of homeownership is affordable, with others citing 40-year high inflationary costs, 23-year-high interest rates, limited supply of affordable housing and earnings that have eroded because of inflation.

According to a Wall Street Journal/NORC poll of 1,502 U.S. adults, the sentiment was consistent across gender and party lines, with young Americans expressing the greatest despair, saying they’ve “been priced out of homeownership.”

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California City Bans Smoking at Many Homes

Smoking in Home

The City of Carlsbad near San Diego, banned smoking from multifamily buildings with three or more units to reduce risk of secondhand smoke. The one city councilmember to vote against the measure called it an overreach, saying landlords and property managers should be able to make their own choices about their properties.

The ordinance bans smoking and vaping of tobacco and cannabis products both inside and outside buildings, including common areas, with use only permissible in designated smoking zones. The bill does not generally apply to single-family homes, though it does apply to townhomes, which tend not to share air systems with neighboring units.

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Veteran: DOD Withholds Documents on Whether DEI Hiring Improves National Security

James Fitzpatrick

The U.S. Department of Defense is under scrutiny for refusing to release records about exactly how spending on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion helps with national security.

The Center to Advance Security in America in May filed with the DOD a Freedom of Information Act Request, the legal pathway to obtain government documents. The FOIA sought to find out what DOD officials estimate is the real impact on national security of DEI spending, for which Congress approved $86.5 million in fiscal year 2023.

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Canada Officials Express Alarm About Terrorism Threats and Its Impact on U.S-Canada Border.

Illegal immigrants arrested at U.S.-Canada Border

In addition to members of Congress expressing alarm about national security threats at the U.S.-Canada border, members of the Conservative Party of Canada are blaming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government for being responsible for creating them.

A Canadian House of Commons hearing was held Wednesday to investigate how the Trudeau government granted citizenship to a member of ISIS who allegedly plotted a terrorist attack against Canadians.

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Biden Admin Pushed Group to Cut Trans Surgery Age Requirements, Faces Probe

Transgender

A U.S. House Committee has launched a probe of the Biden-Harris administration after reports that the White House pressured the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, a leading professional nonprofit association, to remove the age limits for transgender surgeries and drugs for minors.

Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., chair of the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra opening the probe, which requests all documentation and communication around the alleged “political interference” and whether HHS has pressured other medical groups to alter its guidance.

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Credit Card Debt Hits Record $1.14 Trillion

Credit Card

More Americans are struggling financially as savings are significantly down and debt and delinquencies are up compared to four years ago.

Savings and disposable income are significantly down when comparing federal data under the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations.

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Minnesota Special Education Program Hands Out $10 Million in Grants

Young boy in learning environment

Minnesota’s Department of Education awarded $10 million in education grants to support and train special education teachers in more than 35 public school districts, charter schools and co-ops. 

“As a former classroom teacher for over 20 years, I understand the impact a dedicated teacher can have on their students’ lives,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday. “By investing in our special education workforce, we can help ensure every student in Minnesota receives the support they need to thrive in their education.”

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Report Challenges Harris’ Assertion That Higher Food Prices Equal Corporate Greed

Grocery Shopping

Rising grocery store prices over the last few years aren’t the fault of farmers or “greedy” corporations, a conservative North Carolina research organization concludes in a new documentary series and report.

Instead, higher energy prices and more regulations are the culprit, according to the John Locke Foundation documentary series Sowing Resilience.

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Walz Promises Harris Will Help Middle Class in DNC Speech

Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz leaned heavily into his Midwestern roots in his speech that wrapped up the third night of the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, painting the Harris-Walz ticket as pro-middle class, pro-freedom, and pro-neighborliness.

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Walz Repeatedly Implied He and His Wife Used IVF but Harris Campaign Says They Did Not

Tim Walz

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats’ vice-presidential nominee, repeatedly implied he and his wife used IVF procedures in order to conceive their children. However, the couple never used IVF.

According to both the New York Times and CNN, the Harris-Walz campaign recently disclosed that Walz and his wife, Gwen, did not use IVF to conceive their children. Instead, the couple used a very different procedure called IUI. For months, Walz had been heavily implying that he and his wife used IVF to conceive their children.

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Food Stamp Costs Are on the Way Down but Still Far Higher than Pre-Pandemic Days

Grocery Shopping

The cost of food assistance in the U.S. has dropped from its peak during the pandemic, but is still 23% higher than it was during pre-pandemic times, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, what used to be called food stamps, peaked in costs December 2022 at $11.07 billion that month. That monthly cost dropped to $7.51 billion as of April 2024. There were about 41.6 million people collecting SNAP benefits as of April 2024.

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Illegal Border Crossings Surpass 12.5 Million Since Biden-Harris Took Office

Illegal Immigrants

U.S. Customs and Border Protection released monthly border apprehension data on Friday, saying, “statistics show lowest southwest border encounters in nearly four years.” CBP also claimed illegal border crossings were down by 34% from June to July and the drop is due to a presidential proclamation issued in June.

Troy Miller, a senior official performing the duties of the CBP Commissioner, said  recent Biden-Harris policies led “to the lowest number of encounters along the southwest border in more than three years.”

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New Poll Shows Trump, Harris Tied in Wisconsin

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are tied in a new poll of Wisconsin voters.

In a head-to-head matchup between the Republican and Democratic nominees for president, the American Greatness/TIPP poll of likely and registered voters shows both Trump and Harris at 47% support.

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Polls Say Majority of Americans Want Troops Sent to Border and Oppose Illegal Immigration

Illegal Immigrants

Polls are consistently showing two key indictments on the Biden-Harris administration border policy: Americans not only overwhelmingly oppose illegal immigration but also want troops sent to the southern border and the border secure.

Two new recent polls support this trend, although polls have consistently shown that Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Vice President Kamala Harris’ job as “border czar.”

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Critics Blast Harris’ New ‘Price Control’ Plan

Kamala Harris

Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is taking fire for her new “price-gouging” ban that critics say is little more than communism-style “price controls” where government heavily regulates industries.

Harris’ effort to address elevated consumer prices hits at a key pain point for Americans, but the details of how Harris plans to go about fixing that problem will be the subject of close scrutiny when she lays out the plan at a North Carolina rally Friday. Harris is expected to unveil a broader economic plan at the same rally, but so far there are few details on specifically how she will address inflation. Prices have risen more than 20% overall since she and President Joe Biden took office.

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Consumer Prices Rise in Latest Federal Inflation Data

Consumer prices rose again last month after dipping in June, according to newly released federal inflation data.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday released its Consumer Price Index, a key marker of inflation, which showed that consumer prices rose 0.2% in July, part of a 2.9% increase over the past 12 months.

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Inflation Ticks Up in New Federal Data

Corn Farm

Newly released federal inflation data shows that the Producer Price Index, a leading marker of inflation, rose last month.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the data, which showed a 0.1 percent increase in July, part of a 2.2 percent increase in the previous 12 months.

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