Author: tophorse@gmail.com

A proposed GOP ban on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could pump the brakes on grand visions to reshape electronic payment access around the Federal Reserve.  Republican lawmakers pushed the ban through the House on Thursday over concerns the government could use a CBDC to surveil Americans’ financial transactions. The banking industry has also lobbied against…
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The president bragged that his poll numbers have skyrocketed despite ongoing backlash over his handling of Epstein’s files.

America has never lacked political showmen. So when Elon Musk — a man as comfortable launching rockets as launching tweets — announces his intention to form a new political party, the instinctive response is skepticism, if not outright derision. Call it the “America Party,” he says, a banner for those tired of both elephants and…
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Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Sunday that President Trump “made an enormous mistake” in blaming the Russia-Ukraine war on the Ukrainians. “I think the Trump administration made an enormous mistake during the campaign and then from the election forward by putting the blame on Ukraine for the war,” Smith told anchor Shannon Bream on “Fox…
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Uncertainty is hanging over this year’s hurricane season as meteorologists predict “above-normal” activity and the Trump administration sends shifting signals over the future of the federal government’s role in natural disaster response.  Despite talk of eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in its current form, the administration says it remains “laser focused on disaster…
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Despite facing a slew of current controversies, the president had his mind on other things on Sunday.

As Trump faces pressure to release more information regarding Epstein, reports are coming out that the two men knew each other well.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a moderate Republican, suggested in a Sunday interview that first lady Melania Trump deserves some credit for President Trump’s apparent pivot against Russia in its war against Ukraine. “Well, I’m glad that the President has pivoted on Ukraine,” Bacon said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.” “I think we…
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Another day, another chilling development in the fight against waste, fraud and abuse.  President Trump, who removed 17 inspectors general (including me) at the beginning of his term, continued his attack earlier this month by demoting the acting inspector general of the Department of Education — simply because she was doing her job.  That job…
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Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) said on Sunday that he has not yet decided whether to run for U.S. Senate in Texas in 2026. “I don’t know,” O’Rourke said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” when asked if he plans to run for Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) Senate seat, which is up…
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Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) called on his fellow Democrats to fight “fire with fire” as Republicans in his state move forward with an effort to alter Texas’s congressional lines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” O’Rourke said Democrats need to start playing the same game…
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U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, called Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele “a good friend” after he helped secure the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in Venezuela in exchange for the return of more than 250 Venezuelans that the U.S. had sent to be imprisoned in El Salvador. In an interview on CNN’s “State…
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) defended Democrats for jumping on Republican calls for the federal government to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, even though her party largely remained mum on the issue while former President Biden was in office. In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper, the Minnesota…
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NASA has had a difficult early summer, between a proposed budget that would eviscerate the space agency’s science programs and President Trump’s sudden withdrawal of billionaire private space traveler Jared Isaacman from the nomination to be administrator of NASA. Even so, there are signs that NASA’s fortunes may be looking up. The space agency has a new administrator —…
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“It’s like the Dollar Tree version of Versailles.”

Recent polling is painting a mixed picture for Democrats as they look to chart a path forward in the wake of their loss to President Trump in November. Trump’s approval rating remains comfortably underwater as he reaches the six-month mark back in office on Sunday. But while Democrats have scored some notable victories in high-profile…
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The Justice Department has been rocked by a wave of recent firings, a sign the administration is not done culling the ranks of career officials as it seeks to shape the department under a second Trump term.  Maurene Comey, a New York-based federal prosecutor and the daughter of the former FBI director, was fired Wednesday…
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Senators hoping for an August respite after several weeks of late-night votes may not be in luck, with President Trump asking Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) Saturday to cancel the chamber’s traditional late-summer recess in order to confirm his executive and judicial appointments. “Hopefully the very talented John Thune, fresh off our many victories…
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Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy bashed Stephen Colbert on Saturday, calling the late-night host “ungrateful” after Colbert’s show was axed by CBS in what the network claimed was a “financial decision.” “For these people, including like Colbert, to be like, ‘This isn’t really right and we’re blindsided’ — buddy, you’re losing 40 million dollars a…
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Influential figures in the MAGA realm who have pushed the administration to release more documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s case are coming to President Trump’s defense after The Wall Street Journal reported that the commander-in-chief allegedly sent a lewd letter to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender over 20 years ago.  The Journal reported…
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Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, urged lawmakers to keep pushing for the release of the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files as the White House has attempted to tamp down on the issue. “Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. We know that,” Garcia asserted on MSNBC Friday. “It’s time…
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The case of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein dominated headlines once again this week as President Trump has struggled to manage the fallout over an FBI and Department of Justice memo that pushed back on several conspiracy theories about the convicted sex offender. This is likely to be the focus of much of this week’s Sunday…
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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urged President Trump to negotiate a trade agreement this week as the U.S. has pursued increasingly aggressive action over the criminal prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president. “What we cannot have is President Trump forgetting that he was elected to govern the U.S. he was elected not…
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“They were best friends,” said former model Stacey Williams of Jeffrey Epstein and President Donald Trump.

Navy Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, the first female to serve as superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy is being reassigned, the Defense Department announced Friday. Davids was instead tapped to serve as deputy chief of naval operations, plans, strategy and warfighting development, according to a press release. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael J. Borgschulte was…
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