US Home Prices Hit an All-Time High as Sales Slow and Mortgage Rates Rise

Source: US News & World Report

“Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in June, but a key measure of home prices climbed to an all-time high, adding to prospective homebuyers’ affordability challenges. Existing home sales fell 2.4% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Sales rose 2.8% compared with June last year. The latest sales tally fell short of the roughly 4.21 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Home sales have been mostly hovering close to a 4-million annual pace going back to 2023, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2-million. Sales have remained sluggish as mortgage rates have mostly trended higher in the months since the war between the U.S. and Iran started, fueling expectations of higher inflation amid surging crude oil prices. Still, mortgage rates remain below where they were a year ago.” (07/09/26)

https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2026-07-09/us-home-prices-hit-an-all-time-high-as-sales-slow-and-mortgage-rates-rise

Thomas L. Knapp

What’s the Real “Defining Image of Race in America”?

Source: Town Hall
by Larry Elder

“Reuters published a photograph taken during the weekend of America’s 250th birthday celebration. It depicted a young black woman seated by herself on a packed D.C. Metro train. Standing and sitting around her were white men wearing white masks. They belong to a white nationalist organization called Patriot Front, a group involved in the violent 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, rally that resulted in the death of a woman. The intimidating-looking men reportedly said nothing to the woman and never threatened her, and she remained composed. The photo quickly went viral and was hailed by many journalists and commentators as a microcosm of America in this era of President Donald Trump. ” (07/09/26)

https://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2026/07/09/whats-the-real-defining-image-of-race-in-america-n2679071

Steve Trinward

NY: Regime sues 3M, DuPont and other companies over so-called forever chemicals

Source: Seattle Times

“New York’s attorney general is suing several large chemical and agricultural companies, alleging they knowingly sold harmful so-called forever chemicals used in cosmetics, non-stick cookware and other products. The lawsuit against 3M, DuPont de Nemours, The Chemours Company and Corteva and other manufacturers is the latest legal action over PFAS, which have been linked to an increased risk of certain cancers and developmental delays in children.” (07/09/26)

https://archive.is/qbX7A

Thomas L. Knapp

The New Conquistadors: Surveillance Capitalism and the Digital Frontier Between Your Ears

Source: CounterPunch
by John Kendall Hawkins

“The atmosphere Snowden describes in vault V22 at NSA headquarters — decorated, let the detail stand, with a seven-foot poster of Chewbacca — is not the atmosphere of men who believe they are doing something wrong. It is the atmosphere of men who believe they are entitled. The technology did not corrupt them. It handed them a key. This is the surveillance state at its most human, which is to say, its most revealing. The apparatus built to protect a democracy from its enemies was being used by young men to look at photographs of women who had no idea they were being watched. The technology did not create the entitlement. It removed the friction that previously constrained it.” (07/09/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/09/the-new-conquistadors-surveillance-capitalism-and-the-digital-frontier-between-your-ears/

Thomas L. Knapp

Australian regime agrees to sell uranium to Indian regime

Source: Houston Chronicle

“Australia will begin to sell uranium to India for peaceful purposes after the two countries’ leaders signed an administrative deal Thursday, enacting an agreement on exports of the material that was held up for years over concerns about weapons use. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the joint announcement after a meeting in Melbourne. The leaders didn’t immediately supply details of how much uranium would be sold, or when. Exports of Australian uranium to India stalled after an agreement to do so in 2014, because of concern that the material could be used to make weapons.” (07/09/26)

https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/australia-agrees-to-sell-uranium-to-india-ending-22338506.php

Thomas L. Knapp