Americans hit the road in record numbers for 4th of July — in spite of high gas prices
National average for regular gasoline has fallen from a June peak above $4.56 a gallon as crude oil prices eased following the end of Iran conflict.

National average for regular gasoline has fallen from a June peak above $4.56 a gallon as crude oil prices eased following the end of Iran conflict.
Right-wing tech billionaire Peter Thiel is accusing Pope Leo XIV of doing the work of the Chinese Communist Party with his criticisms of artificial intelligence.According to a Thursday report from CNN, Thiel told the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado on Tuesday that the pope was inadvertently serving as a “Chinese communist agent” when he released a 42,000-word encyclical that called for strict regulation of AI, a technology that the pontiff said heightens the “risk of dehumanization” throughout the world.Thiel argued that this sort of thinking was dangerous, CNN reported, because it could result in the US losing the “race” to build more advanced AI to China. Because of this, Thiel continued, the pope is essentially “working for the Chinese communists” by trying to tap the brakes on AI development.Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, has long decried AI critics in harsh terms. Over the last year, he has been delivering a series of lectures in which he has said that opponents of AI development are working as agents for the Antichrist.Journalist Christopher Hale, who writes the Letters From Leo newsletter, noted on Friday that Thiel in the past has even speculated that Pope Leo could be “a manifestation of the Antichrist.”Thiel has said that he instructed Vice President JD Vance, a longtime political ally who received major funding from the tech billionaire for his 2022 Senate campaign, to ignore the pope’s moral guidance despite influencing Vance to convert to Catholicism, Hale added.“Thiel seeded the vice president’s Catholic faith,” Hale wrote, “and he now tells wealthy festival audiences that the leader of that faith works for a communist government.”In addition to his attacks on the pope, Thiel also warned about “a democratic-socialist takeover of the Democratic Party,” pointing to recent victories in New York and Colorado of candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.Thiel said that this “takeover” would doom the US, arguing that “when the Democratic Party goes, this country is over,” according to CNN.The New York Times reported in May that Thiel has grown so concerned about the political situation in the US that he’s created a “foothold” for himself in Argentina, which is currently being governed by ideologically likeminded libertarian President Javier Milei.“Thiel, who has a history of collecting backup countries as he hedges his bets against the United States, is considering making Argentina another Plan B,” the Times reported. “Born in Germany and raised in the United States, he received citizenship in New Zealand in 2011, and applied for a passport in Malta in 2022.”
At least two Dallas police officers and members of the Egypt national soccer team’s staff were involved in a physical altercation and shouting match, according to videos.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke exclusively with Kelly O'Grady about Trump accounts, which officially launch on Saturday, as well as when gas prices could lower to pre-Iran war levels and wage growth for Americans.
In light of the Lakers’ 35-minute free-agency splurge Wednesday morning, which netted them Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Collin Sexton, and the dissection of each of those agreements, what can’t be overlooked is how the Lakers kicked it all off by filling their biggest need. The Lakers agreed to a blockbuster trade with the Jazz...
In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas that Tennessee’s two-year residency requirement for alcohol retailers was unconstitutional. This marked the first time since the 2005 Granholm v. Heald decision that the Supreme Court directly addressed the relationship between the 21st Amendment and the dormant Commerce […]
Rep. Matt Van Epps said his bill reaffirming the Declaration of Independence directly responds to socialist candidates gaining ground in primaries.
Investigations into president and corruption charges will get heavy scrutiny if Democrats win majority in midtermsDonald Trump’s presidency is facing investigations and corruption charges from a key House Democrat and ex-prosecutors, involving political and personal abuses of power, which legal experts predict will get heavy scrutiny if Democrats win the House majority in the midterms.Legal critics call the scandals dogging the president “target rich” for investigations that Democrats will have a “field day” investigating if they win the House majority. Critics cite, for instance, Trump’s damaging the rule of law by weaponizing the Department of Justice (DoJ) to exact revenge on political foes and protect himself from federal investigations, plus Trump moves to profit in radical ways from his presidency with lucrative and new cryptocurrency ventures. Continue reading...