USA - Trump’s mad that Japan ships millions of cars to the US but won’t return the favor. His fix? Japan should start buying a whole lot more American oil and other stuff to shrink the trade gap. Meanwhile, Japan is in full panic mode, trying to dodge a brutal 24% tariff starting July 9, on top of the 25% they’re already dealing with.

USA - The US dollar just keeps getting weaker and weaker, and that is a major problem because our current standard of living depends on having a strong dollar. When the US dollar is strong relative to other national currencies, our paychecks stretch farther and we can buy more stuff. Conversely, when the US dollar is weak relative to other national currencies we can’t buy as much stuff and our standard of living goes down. So the fact that the US dollar is “having its worst start to the year since 1973” should deeply alarm all of us…

USA - Two public statements to compare and contrast. The first, from John Swinney, in the aftermath of the US bunker-bomb attack on Iran’s nuclear sites: “I share the concerns of Scots about the events in Iran… That’s why I have made a strong plea for every resource of the international community to be deployed to de-escalate the situation and to get the world to step back from the brink.” The second, from President Trump, as Israel and Iran swapped missile attacks: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”

UK - As we know, Sir Keir Starmer is planning to give the vote to 16 year-olds. According to some radical thinkers, however, that’s simply not good enough. Because they say we should give the vote to all children – including babies. This fascinating proposal was examined at the weekend by the The Guardian – which concluded that the arguments for it are “hard to refute”. It cited John Wall, a political philosopher, who thinks it’s “unjust that up to a third of the population [is] excluded from the democratic process”. It also cited Clémentine Beauvais, an education researcher, who says children are good at asking important questions about major issues, such as “war”, “money” and “meat”. And it cited Harry Pearse, another researcher, who believes that five-year-old voters would add “some healthy chaos” to “the system”. Come election time, politicians would be constantly lurking outside playparks and primary schools, in the hope of buttering up infant voters with pledges of later bedtimes and free sweets on the NHS.

USA - Therapy-speak has taken over our language. It is ruining how we talk about romance and relationships, narrowing how we think about hurt and suffering, and now, we are losing the words for who we are. Nobody has a personality anymore. In a therapeutic culture, every personality trait becomes a problem to be solved. Anything too human — every habit, every eccentricity, every feeling too strong — has to be labelled and explained. And this inevitably expands over time, encompassing more and more of us, until nobody is normal. Some say young people are making their disorders their whole personality. No; it’s worse than that. Now they are being taught that their normal personality is a disorder. This is part of a deeper instinct in modern life, I think, to explain everything. But in exchange for explanation, we lost mystery, romance, and lately, I think, ourselves.

UK - Starmer’s U-turn on welfare cuts now makes the UK’s coming reckoning irreversible. Make a note of last Friday’s date: June 27 2025. It was the day that Britain’s coming financial crisis became inescapable. In backing away from his attempt to slow, however feebly, the rise in benefits spending, Sir Keir Starmer was signalling to the world that Labour would never bring Britain’s budget back into balance. The storm might break in 2026 or 2027 or even later. Labour politicians will do everything in their power to postpone the reckoning. But debts are not just paper liabilities; they end up being recovered. Starmer might manage to limp on until the next election, a prisoner of the 400 standard-issue big-government Labour MPs who want him to stick to the Corbynite policies on which he was elected party leader. Either way, Labour itself is finished. Last week will be remembered as the moment when its MPs took the decision to check out.

USA - Diversity isn’t ‘our strength’ when millions of foreigners refuse to assimilate. The US is following Europe’s lead, in allowing migrants and their descendants to bring foreign conflicts to our shores. When immigrants came to America, the unspoken deal used to be to “leave the beefs at home”. As newcomers assimilated, they abandoned ancient feuds that mired parts of the Old World in conflict for centuries.This has been a key to American success. Indians and Pakistanis may be at loggerheads, but in the US they were both “South Asians” and got along fine. As the Irish Republicans and Scots Irish left Emerald Isle politics behind, so Armenians and Turks, Arabs and Israelis, Hutu and Tutsi all respected the pax Americana. But America as a “melting pot” was replaced with the mantra “diversity is our strength”.

UK - Britain’s data centres are consuming close to ten billion litres of water a year at least as the country braces for widespread drought, The Times can reveal. Two regions are in drought, with more likely to follow, raising the possibility of summer hosepipe bans as rivers hit “exceptionally” low levels, highlighting the squeeze on Britain’s water supplies despite its rainy reputation. Yet there is no official estimate of how much water the nation’s 450-plus data centres are using to keep their servers cool. About half of the UK’s water companies were unable to provide figures to Foxglove, in part because data centres do not have to report their water usage. “It is deeply alarming that over half our water companies have no clue how many data centres they supply, nor how much water they are hoovering up,” Donald Campbell, of Foxglove, said.

UK - A 10-second siren is set to blare out of mobile phones across the UK as the Government carries out another test of its emergency alert system. The loud alarm was first tested in 2023, and is considered part of a "crucial public safety trial" aimed at preparing people living in the country for life-threatening situations. This includes severe weather or national security threats. It is designed to inform the public about imminent dangers in their vicinity. The emergency alert system will once again send a message that reads: "Severe Alert. This is a test of emergency alerts, a new UK government service that will warn you if there's a life-threatening emergency nearby."

USA - Those that are crying “peace, peace” might want to take another look at what is happening on the other side of the world because there is no peace. Israel is conducting airstrikes in Lebanon, the military offensive in Gaza is moving forward, and high ranking terror leaders are being eliminated. Meanwhile, the Russians just unleashed the largest air assault on Ukraine that we have seen in more than three years, and Russian troops are gobbling up territory at a very rapid pace. On top of everything else, speculation is rampant that the war between Israel and Iran could suddenly erupt again at any moment. Echoing the opinions of so many other experts, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Maginnis is warning us that “the Israeli-Iranian war is far from over”…

UK - Ministers promise more care options under ten-year plan for NHS, while experts warn of a system ‘overwhelmed and underfunded’ in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. The government has revealed some details of mental health provision under the NHS’s ten-year plan, which will set the course for the health service for the next decade. Under the plans, patients will be able to access mental health services and assistance through the NHS App, much like privately available apps such as Headspace or Mind. Dr Sarah Hughes, the chief executive of Mind, said: “The nation’s mental health is deteriorating and our current system is overwhelmed, underfunded and unequal to the scale of the challenge.

IRAN - Iran's top Shiite cleric issued a religious decree against President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, an act some experts called an incitement to terrorism. The fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi called on Muslims around the world to take a stand, according to the New York Sun. It states that any individual or government that challenges or endangers the leadership and unity of the global Islamic community (the Ummah) is to be regarded as a "warlord" or a "mohareb," defined as someone who wages war against God. Under Iranian law, those identified as mohareb can face execution, crucifixion, limb amputation, or exile.

USA - Donald Trump‘s lack of trust in his own intelligence chiefs and ignorance of their advice while launching military action is “very scary” and “dangerous” to world security, a former head of the CIA has warned. Leon Panetta, who was Director of the US spy agency from 2009 to 2011, is alarmed by the President’s declaration that intelligence he received on Iran’s nuclear programme – shortly before he ordered risky strikes on the country – was “wrong”.

USA - They keep pointing to interest rates like it’s the reason everything is falling apart. But the truth has been sitting in plain sight for years. Since the lockdown era began, the cost of living didn’t just rise. It launched. A basket of basic goods that cost $100 in 2019 now takes over $130 to replace. That’s not inflation anymore. That’s structural erosion. Real wages never caught up. Paychecks are heavier in numbers but lighter in power.

USA - If you want to rip down an American flag and replace it with a Palestinian flag, you are celebrated. If you rip up an LGBTQ flag, you get charged with a hate crime. This is outrageous! There is a manhunt underway for teenage boys who ripped up LGBTQ ‘pride’ flags in Atlanta, Georgia. Four Atlanta teens are facing potential hate crime charges for cutting up pride flags. The Atlanta Police Department is still looking for the two other teens. Illegal alien invaders and far-left rioters can burn the American flag because it’s ‘free speech’ but minor teen boys who ripped up pride flags face potential hate crimes and prison time. This insanity is brought to you courtesy of the Democrat party.