Liberty Without Strings

US Says 'No Ships Made It Past Blockade' As Iran Mulls Hormuz Shipping Pause To Preserve Talks, Which Trump Says Could Happen In Two Days Summary CENTCOM: "During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade & 6 merchant vessels complied with direction from US forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman," it said. Diplomacy is not yet dead, as Bloomberg reports Iran is mulling a short-term pause to shipments through Hormuz Strait. Trump tells NYP talks could happen again in two...

Minnesota Judges Enabling Somali Fraud Epidemic With Slaps On Wrist The Feeding Our Future fraud is the largest pandemic-relief theft in American history - $250 million stolen, mostly by Somali immigrants who fabricated meal counts and pocketed federal child nutrition funds. The prosecutions have dragged on for years. Now that sentences are finally coming down, a troubling pattern is emerging: the punishments don’t seem to fit the crime. U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel — nominated to the bench in 2018 through a package deal between the first Trump administration and Minnesota's Senate Democrats —...

Despite Record Low Sentiment, US Retail Sales See Strongest Annual Gain In 8 Months After a big jump in March, retail sales likely cooled in April, according to BofA's almost omniscient forecast as they see spending on gasoline providing a smaller boost and auto sales moderating, after an early Easter pulled forward some seasonal demand into March. The “holiday shift” dynamic also may have contributed to softer activity after Easter. However, the actual print was +0.5% MoM (as consensus expected - and hotter than BofA's forecast), lifting sales by 4.9% YoY...