The Federal Reserve has officially reported a loss of $57 billion for the first six months of 2023. Quite a number! So the “Federal Reserve Banks Combined Quarterly Financial Report as of June 30, 2023” (CQFR)—a little-known document—is especially notable for its red ink. We can anticipate an annual loss of over $100 billion for 2023 and for the losses to continue into 2024. 1

How does a central bank, especially the world’s greatest and most important central bank, lose tens of billions of dollars in six months? An average person, influenced by the mystique of the Fed, might understandably be baffled by this fact.

To understand what is happening, we need to recall that in addition to being a media star as the manipulator of the world’s dominant currency, the Federal Reserve is a bank—well, actually 12 Federal Reserve Banks (FRBs), covering districts across the United States. Added together they are huge, with total assets of $8.3 trillion (with a T). The FRBs have loans, investments, deposits and borrowings, interest income and interest expense, and profit or loss like other banks do. They also have private shareholders: the commercial banks which are “Fed member banks,” and the FRBs have over them the Washington Federal Reserve Board, which charges them for its expenses.

The combined FRBs are intended to always be profitable because of their unique monopoly in issuing U.S. dollar paper currency. This is a very lucrative privilege which means together they have $2.3 trillion of zero interest cost funding from the dollar bills circulating around the country and the world, which they can invest in interest earning assets. (They print up some money and use it to buy Treasury bonds, simply said.) But instead of making profits, as the combined Fed reliably did for more than 100 years, it is now making giant losses, a historic reversal.

Mark Finchem and Kari Lake’s lawsuit to prohibit the use of unsecured “black box” voting machines is being heard in the US Ninth District Court of Appeals this morning.

The hearing is scheduled to begin shortly in the order of the docket.

The lawsuit, which was rejected by a corrupt Obama Judge before the 2022 election, will be reconsidered after election day in Arizona, where 59% of machines failed Republican voters.

In May, The Gateway Pundit reported on explosive findings by Kari Lake’s legal team, including that Maricopa County employees engaged in the secret and illegal reconfiguration and testing of voting machines and printers after they were certified and before the election. This caused voting machines and ballot printers to fail at 59% of voting locations targeting Republicans on Election Day.

This illegal testing occurred with no documentation or logging of tamper-evident seals in violation of the Elections Procedures Manual and the law. It was also conducted after the statutorily required October 11 testing, and the legally required public notice was not given. In the video from October 14, the reprogrammed ballot tabulators can be seen jamming as employees test them, just as they did on Election Day.

Every day, more evidence appears to emerge that our own government is corrupt to the core.

A CIA whistleblower has stepped forward, claiming the CIA manipulated the investigation into the origins of COVID-19. According to letters from House Coronavirus Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, the CIA offered “significant monetary incentives” to officials to shift their findings.

House Coronavirus Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH 2nd District) and House Intelligence Committee  Chairman Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH 10th District) sent a separate letter to CIA Director William Burns and former CIA COO Andrew Makridis, shedding new light on the agency’s actions regarding the origins of COVID-19.

“The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (Select Subcommittee) and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) (together “the Committees”) have received new and concerning whistleblower testimony regarding the Agency’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19,” according to Wenstrup and Turner’s letter to CIA Director William Burns on Tuesday.

Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Tuesday threatened to remove Speaker McCarthy for being out of compliance with the agreement that allowed him to assume his role.

“On this very floor in January, the whole world witnessed a historic contest for House Speaker,” Gaetz said in his opening remarks.

Under new House rules, it only takes one member of Congress, from either party, to bring a ‘motion to vacate’ which forces a vote on removing the Speaker of the House.

It would only take a simple majority vote to remove McCarthy. Gaetz this week floated recruiting Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell to help him remove McCarthy.

Chicago's mayor Brandon Johnson is pushing a 'mansion tax' on sales of homes of more than $1 million, as his administration continues to push higher tax on households earning over $100,000.

The newly elected mayor, who took over from his disastrous predecessor Lori Lightfoot in May of this year, wants to push a hike in taxes in order to fight homelessness in the city. 

Allies of Mayor Johnson, 47, have also announced plans to push a $12-billion plan for the city titled 'First We Get the Money'.

The plan, seemingly named after a quote from the 1983 film Scarface, aims to build a 'more just' Chicago by slashing funding for the police and implementing new taxes in the city. 

Johnson believes people that own properties worth $1 million in the third-largest city in the U.S. are 'rich, and should pay if they sell those homes'. 

Global oil prices climbed above $92 a barrel on Tuesday for the first time in nearly 10 months as the energy market braces for supply disruptions caused by catastrophic flooding in Libya.

At least 2,000 people have died and 10,000 are believed missing following the deadly flooding that broke dams and swept away countless homes there.

Brent crude, the world benchmark, jumped nearly 2% to an intraday high of $92.38 a barrel. That’s the highest price since November 17, 2022. US oil prices popped 2.3% to as much as $89.29 a barrel, also the highest level since November.

The latest rally for oil prices will continue to push up prices at the pump for consumers and add to inflation across the US economy.

Analysts blamed the price surge on the deadly flooding in Libya, which will temporarily disrupt oil exports from that OPEC nation. It produced about 1 million barrels of oil per day in August, according to OPEC.

 The University of Minnesota spent $219,633 developing a training course that teaches medical professionals about “structural racism” within the health care industry as a result of “white supremacy,” according to documents obtained by watchdog Do No Harm and reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

 Despite United States government sanctions on the semiconductor chip giant, China-based Huawei was somehow able to build an incredible 7-nanometer processor for Chinese smartphones that is lightyears ahead of anything Apple has to offer.

 "Please smash all my windows if it will be a step toward change."

 Microsoft analysts have warned that Chinese operatives were behind fake social media accounts using artificial intelligence-generated images to manipulate and influence American voters by spreading disinformation and provoking discussion on divisive political issues.

 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has officially called for the world to establish an international framework that will create a global digital ID system. She also called for the development of artificial intelligence to be regulated by an international body.

 Communist China is already interfering with the 2024 election by using artificial intelligence (AI) robots to impersonate American voters online while spreading political propaganda.

 A pro-life sign at a church in Maine was vandalized, and members want the incident to be investigated as a hate crime against Christians.

 A United Nations agency found that the U.S.-Mexico border was the deadliest land migrant route in the world.

 A plumber made a disturbing discovery in the pipes of an apartment complex in Texas after neighbors complained of drainage issues.

 The New Mexico attorney general said in a statement that his office would not defend the public emergency order by the governor restricting gun rights in one county of the state.

 A recent report from a government watchdog agency found that $100 billion to $135 billion in COVID-era unemployment benefits was stolen by fraudsters.

 Those incapable of distinguishing between high fashion and garbage are not alone. It appears that after years of entertaining dumpster aesthetics, fashionistas similarly can't tell the difference.

The vast majority of Ukrainians – 78 percent – say President Volodymyr Zelensky is directly responsible for corruption in the government and military, a poll published on Monday found.

The survey, conducted in July by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, also found that Ukrainians ranked corruption within their own government as a bigger threat to “Ukrainian entrepreneurship” than the ongoing Russian invasion, according to the Kyiv Independent.

The poll was taken after months of investigations, which followed months of firings at the highest levels of governments. Zelensky announced measures to fight bribery and other corrupt activity in his administration in January, firing five governors and four deputy ministers. Those firings came after the ouster of top infrastructure official Vasyl Lozinskyi on suspicions of embezzlement.

Since the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation poll was taken in July, Zelensky has fired every regional recruitment center head for taking bribes from men attempting to avoid the war and has replaced the nation’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov. Reznikov does not face any criminal charges or accusations of direct involvement in corruption at press time, but rumors of corruption preceded his “resignation.”

The vast majority of Ukrainians – 78 percent – say President Volodymyr Zelensky is directly responsible for corruption in the government and military, a poll published on Monday found.

The survey, conducted in July by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, also found that Ukrainians ranked corruption within their own government as a bigger threat to “Ukrainian entrepreneurship” than the ongoing Russian invasion, according to the Kyiv Independent.

The poll was taken after months of investigations, which followed months of firings at the highest levels of governments. Zelensky announced measures to fight bribery and other corrupt activity in his administration in January, firing five governors and four deputy ministers. Those firings came after the ouster of top infrastructure official Vasyl Lozinskyi on suspicions of embezzlement.

Since the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation poll was taken in July, Zelensky has fired every regional recruitment center head for taking bribes from men attempting to avoid the war and has replaced the nation’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov. Reznikov does not face any criminal charges or accusations of direct involvement in corruption at press time, but rumors of corruption preceded his “resignation.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D., N.Y.) office says she isn’t married. But she has described her fiancé, Riley Roberts, as her "spouse" in forms filed with the House Ethics Committee in 2023, which has a strict definition of that term—"someone to whom you are legally married."

That could become a problem for the left-wing darling, since willful misrepresentations on the documents are a no-no—they could subject her to criminal prosecution, the forms state—and members of Congress are required to disclose the financial information of their spouses, which Ocasio-Cortez has declined to do.

But taken at face value, four legal filings submitted to the House Ethics Committee pertaining to AOC’s overseas travels in 2022 and 2023 suggest the pair have been legally married at least since Jan. 13, 2023. If that is the case, the "Squad" member can no longer leverage the so-called boyfriend loophole to evade public disclosure of his finances. While lawmakers are required to disclose financial information about their spouses, live-in romantic partners and fiancés are exempt from the rule.

If they are not, her forms were filed incorrectly. "They are not legally married," AOC spokeswoman Lauren Hitt told the Washington Free Beacon. "House Ethics has commonly recognized the term spouse to extend to long-term partners."

Elie Honig, a legal analyst for CNN, acknowledged that there may be some merit to Former President Donald Trump’s motion asking that Federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan recuse herself from his case.

Speaking on CNN This Morning, Honig acknowledged that Trump’s request is an “extreme longshot” legally but added that, given Judge Chutkan’s prior comments, it’s “not an outrageous motion.”

The motion for recusal was brought about by remarks made by Judge Chutkan during the sentencing of those convicted of being part of the Capitol attack on January 6. Trump’s legal team claims that these comments show a possible bias against the former president.

Judge Chutkan is quoted in the motion as saying, “The people who exhorted you and encouraged you and rallied you to go and take action and to fight have not been charged,” in reference to a defendant in the Capitol riot case.

CNN host Poppy Harlow asked: “Trump’s lawyers argue statements like those and others mean she should not be able to hear this case against Trump. They add ‘only if this trial is administered by a judge who appears entirely impartial could the public ever accept the outcome as justice.’ I know recusals don’t happen often in situations like this. There are other statements that are interesting that she’s made. Things like when she said last year, “It’s a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day.” They, talking about, you would think Trump. What do you think?”

 A review by the Food and Drug Administration declared that a common ingredient in over-the-counter cold and flu medication is not effective and could cause big brands to have to reformulate their medicine.

 CNN anchor Poppy Harlow whipped out the New Mexico Constitution on Tuesday to ask Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) what empowers her to suspend gun rights.

 A recent tweet depicting Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Ketanji Brown Jackson is, ironically, a perfect template for anyone interested in rebuilding the black family.

 Meta's new social media platform, Threads, recently confirmed that it is blocking COVID-related search terms in order to combat disinformation, according to the Washington Post.

 China and Russia are prepared to launch destructive cyber attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure to “sow chaos and hinder military mobilization” in the event of war breaking out, according to a new Pentagon cyber strategy released on Tuesday.

 A California mayor is facing backlash after he was filmed being spanked by a drag queen with a paddle at a Democratic fundraising event.