Principles for a Centrist Realignment: The Grand Alliance

Source: American Greatness
by Edward Ring

“With midterm elections just around the corner, both major political parties are themselves coping with divided constituencies. The Democratic Socialists vie for dominance against more moderate Democrats. MAGA Republicans confront disaffected libertarians and neocons. And outside all these polarized factions are millions of voters that don’t find any politician or political agenda credible enough to earn their allegiance. But there is a common thread shared by most disillusioned voters. They believe that America’s ruling class has abandoned its fellow citizens. They’re right. Notwithstanding notable recent defections, America’s elites view ordinary citizens as no longer necessary. Because of globalism, they are replaceable. Because of automation, supercharged by AI, they are superfluous. Because of environmentalism, they are unsustainable. A plurality (at the least) of America’s elites have decided the nation’s middle class is disposable, and this is the real reason they continue to push woke degeneracy and extreme environmentalism, designed to lower birthrates and reduce standards of living.” (06/17/26)

https://amgreatness.com/2026/06/17/principles-for-a-centrist-realignment-the-grand-alliance/

Ukraine war: Crimea moped ban as official says noise is Kyiv plot using youth

Source: The Guardian [UK]

“Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, has banned riding moped scooters, quad bikes and motorcycles at night-time, saying they sound like ⁠drone attacks and suggesting children are doing it deliberately at Kyiv’s behest. Sergei ​Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of the … peninsula, said the ban would be in place between 8pm and 6am from Wednesday onwards. Oleg Kryuchkov, Aksyonov’s adviser, claimed ‌separately on Telegram: ‘The enemy is recruiting your children for night-time rides … The moped ⁠noise hampers the work of defence systems. Their engines sound similar [to drones].’ … A Ukrainian drone attack started a fire at the refinery that is the ⁠largest fuel supplier to the Moscow region, and two industry sources told Reuters that it had halted operations. … Russian strikes on Ukraine killed at least eight people on Tuesday, officials said.” (06/17/26)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/17/ukraine-war-briefing-sanctions-waiver-on-russian-oil-could-end-soon-trump-suggests

Trump Breaks It, We Pay for It: The Cost of Cleaning Up the Deep State’s Mess

Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead

“The American taxpayer has become the cleanup crew for the American Police State. We pay for the constitutional violations. We pay for the wars. We pay for the lawsuits, the settlements, the cover-ups, the damage control, the reconstruction, the overreach, the incompetence and the corruption. And when government officials are finally called to account for their misconduct, we pay for that, too. That is the dirty little secret of government accountability in America: even when the government loses, the government does not really pay. ‘We the people’ do. This is not a problem invented by Donald Trump.” (06/16/26)

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/trump_breaks_it_we_pay_for_it_the_cost_of_cleaning_up_the_deep_states_mess

GA: Republican primary delivers mixed results for Trump

Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]

“Georgia Republicans have delivered mixed results for United States President Donald Trump in the state’s primary elections, opting for the president’s preferred US Senate candidate but rejecting his choice for governor. Trump’s influence is being put to the test in this year’s midterm elections as four states and the District of Columbia held primaries on Tuesday. In the Senate race, Republican Mike Collins, 58, topped former football coach Derek Dooley and advanced to face Senator Jon Ossoff, the only Senate Democrat running for re-election in a state that Trump won two years ago. … In the race for Georgia governor, healthcare tycoon Rick Jackson, 71, outpaced Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones after spending about $100m of his own money on the campaign and surpassing Jones’s backing from the president. Jackson will face Democratic nominee and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in November.” (06/17/26)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/17/georgia-republican-primary-delivers-mixed-results-for-trump

Libertarians Are Wrong to Support an “Ellis Island” Immigration-Control System

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“On the issue of immigration, there are two completely different positions within the libertarian movement. One position favors a government-controlled, government-managed system in which federal officials centrally plan the numbers and characteristics of immigrants that will be permitted to enter the United States. The other position is commonly known as ‘open borders.’ This position is based on the principles of economic liberty and the free market. … Some libertarians attempt to ‘straddle the fence’ by endorsing what they call an ‘Ellis Island’ type of immigration-control system. … it’s not freedom — not genuine freedom. That’s a problem for libertarians, who purport to favor freedom, especially economic liberty and free-market principles.” (06/16/26)

https://www.fff.org/2026/06/16/libertarians-are-wrong-to-support-an-ellis-island-immigration-control-system/

Warsh to face spotlight as Federal Reserve likely to leave interest rates unchanged

Source: Associated Press

“The Federal Reserve will enter the Kevin Warsh era Wednesday, as President Trump’s pick to lead the central bank oversees his first policy meeting and holds his first news conference. Yet Warsh isn’t expected to immediately usher in significant policy changes. The Fed is likely to keep its key rate unchanged Wednesday at about 3.6% for the fourth straight meeting, economists say. Fed policymakers could change their post-meeting statement so that it no longer signals the central bank’s next move will be to reduce interest rates. Such a change would suggest it could keep rates unchanged for an extended period — or even raise them if inflation stays elevated. … since the Iran war began Feb. 28, inflation has accelerated to a three-year high of 4.2%, lifted mostly by costlier gas stemming from the Iran war. The Fed typically fights higher inflation by raising its key interest rate to cool spending and growth.” (06/17/26)

https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-kevin-warsh-interest-rates-103325df845d2d6bde63dfa4b8093d35

Brexit’s paradoxical consequence: The unloved colossus of the City matters more than ever

Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Miles Saltiel

“Ten years after Brexit, Britons must choke back an indigestible irony. Leaving the EU has been an unexpected success for those who voted against it: the prosperous Southeast, beneficiaries of the unloved colossus of London’s financial services. But it has been a disaster for those who voted for it, the left-behind of the neglected suburbs and provinces. Two reasons explain this paradox. First, the Brits let Barnier walk all over them on the backward-looking issues which dominated exit negotiations and regulate the rustbelt. Second, Brussels discovered that if it wanted to carry on its prodigal ways, it couldn’t do without London’s capital markets.” (06/16/26)

https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/brexits-paradoxical-consequence-the-unloved-colossus-of-the-city-matters-more-than-ever

Iran’s World Cup team ordered out of US right after opener, coach says

Source: The Hill

“The coach of the Iranian soccer team said that his team had to leave the U.S. shortly after its 2-2 draw against New Zealand to open the FIFA World Cup. Amir Ghalenoei said that officials did not give his team time to ‘recover’ from the match before ordering them to return to Tijuana, Mexico. The Iranians are staying in Tijuana, which is a short flight from southern California — where the team played on Monday and will compete in its second game against Belgium on Sunday. … Ghalenoei did not say who ordered his team to depart the U.S. back to Mexico. While all 31 Iranian players and their coaches received visas, multiple members of the team’s traveling party did not.” (06/16/26)

https://thehill.com/policy/sports-gaming/5925843-iran-world-cup-travel-issues/