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NewsNation) — There’s some good news when it comes to the price of gas, but it may take a while for drivers to see it. Gasoline futures hit an all-time high on June 8 and have fallen steadily ever since — the price of crude oil has dropped 10 percent since last Monday. Yet while companies are now paying 28 cents per gallon less, the nationwide average has increased by a penny since actual prices began to fall.

From Ukraine to Rome, the Confusion Is Great. Notes on the Decline of a PontificatePope Francis is furious with those who are lumping him together with Putin. “Slanderers” and “coprophiles” is what he called them in a handwritten letter to an Argentine journalist friend of his. But then, on receiving at Santa Marta on June 8th a trio of Ukrainians presented to him by another Argentine friend of his (see photo), he took flak from one of them too, Myroslav Marynovych, vice-rector of the Catholic University of Lviv, to the effect that yes, “in the Vatican Ukraine has been seen...

President Biden on Monday praised workers at an Apple store near Baltimore that voted to form the first American union at the Silicon Valley tech giant. “I’m proud of them,” Biden told reporters “You know, workers have a right to determine under what conditions they’re gonna work or not,” he continued. “And I think the thing that everybody kind of misunderstands about unions, they tend to be, especially in the trades, the best workers in the world.”

I run the coffee and doughnuts after the 9:00 AM Mass here in Phoenix, AZ. On Monday morning I go to our doughnut supplier, a Kroger-owned supermarket, and submit my order for 12 dozen doughnuts, describing how many and what kind. The ladies in the bakery apologized as they informed me that they would not be able to fill my order as described due to a "doughnut shortage". A doughnut shortage?! Is nothing sacred? Here we are fiddling with baby formula and right under our noses I am told that there will be no chocolate doughnuts, no cake donuts, and...

(looks like a digitized old VHS)Harry Martindale and the Roman Ghosts | Calisto Monserratt

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) said on Monday that he is hopeful the Senate will pass some form of legislation to curb gun violence, adding that not doing so would be a “moment of moral failure.” Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) have led bipartisan negotiations among Senate lawmakers to come up with a framework that could get enough votes to pass the chamber after the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

U.S. President Joe Biden once again assured the public that he was not hurt when he took a spill from his bike on Saturday as he stopped to greet supporters during a weekend trip to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. (gets grabby with young girl at 12 seconds in. The rest is bla, bla, bla.)

Vice President Kamala Harris bungled a history lesson about the Juneteenth holiday Monday, telling kids that black people were enslaved in America for 400 years — overstating the actual time period by more than 150 years. “I think that we all know today is a day to celebrate the principle of freedom,” Harris told a group of about two dozen elementary school-aged children at the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington. “And think about it in terms of the context of history, knowing that black people in America were not free for 400 years of slavery.”...

This mixture of anxiety and fascination with China’s return to power in orchestrating Asia’s grip and development as well as the revival of the perceived Eastern culture and influence shape the security and soft power architecture for the region for decades to come. The tension of the Washington-Beijing conflict sets the discourse for global geopolitics for the next century, underlying the spectrum of fierce competition in various spheres. The curtain raiser of the dispute will continue to witness Washington’s attempts to maximise the power range and ensure that the power gap remains an advantage, while Beijing will align to a...

Pro-abortion Leftists pulled one of their favorite stunts Saturday and sent a phalanx of politicized teens to deliver their message at the home of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Activists bussed the young women to Washington, D.C., from New York City for the macabre march they dubbed the “Children’s Baby doll Procession.” Never mind that many of the girls aren’t old enough to consent to sexual relations in the first place, which suggests there are other problems at play here — that’s not something the “pro-women” organizers seem interested in addressing. The procession itself was not likely to win...

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — The Union County Library abruptly backed out of plans to participate in the county’s pride events and will not participate in the festival. Pride organizers said the decision came from Union County government leaders. Union County Pride President Cristal Robinson is organizing the county’s first pride festival in September. Robinson said they had plans with the library to host seminars this pride month and in September when the festival will be held. Organizers also planned a drag queen story time and partnered with the library to host a book club for teens, because they said the...

The Supreme Court may very well take up a case that would prevent Democrat judges from invalidating Republican state legislators who dominate state houses from redrawing congressional districts. It takes four justices of the Supreme Court to agree for a case to be heard by the entire Court; Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have said they are willing to hear the case. “Activist judges and allied plaintiffs have proved time and time again that they believe state courts have the ultimate say over congressional maps, no matter what the U.S. Constitution says,” North Carolina Senate leader...

Mark Shields, the longtime political commentator who was a decades-long fixture on “PBS Newshour,” died Saturday at age 85. News of his death was shared on Twitter by Newshour anchor Judy Woodruff. “I am heartbroken to share this,” she said in the tweet, stating that for decades, Shields “wowed us with his encyclopedic knowledge of American politics, his sense of humor and mainly his big heart.” She said he died with his wife Anne at his side. Shields first appeared on “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” during the 1988 presidential election and became a weekly guest. From 2001 to his retirement in...

That U.S. prosecutors didn’t find ballot-stuffing in Detroit and Atlanta says nothing about whether there were systemic violations of election law and illegal voting in 2020.Last week, the Jan. 6“Committee” featured video clips from former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr during its hearing on the violence that erupted at the capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. For the few Americans following the show trial, Barr’s testimony seemed a denial by former President Donald Trump’s top law enforcement officer of any legitimate basis to challenge the outcome of the November 2020 election.To Democrats, this proved Trump sought to steal the White House...

Republican Sen. Rand Paul clashed once again with Dr. Fauci, this time specifically over vaccine approval committees allegedly getting paid royalties. Paul posted a video of the exchange on Twitter and the following text: “I asked, “Can you tell me if anyone on the vaccine approval committees ever received money from the people who make vaccines?” Fauci : “People who receive royalties are not required to divulge them.” CSPAN noted the following in their video description: “Sen. Rand Paul: “If I give you ten, or if I give a patient ten mRNA vaccines, and they make protein each time or...

The Central Bank of Russian Federation recently discussed using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for international settlement.Currently, the central bank holds that Russia should only use the assets for international settlement, not within Russia.The comments were made by the head of the central bank and oppose previous positions held by the monetary authority.Elvira Nabiullina, head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, recently attended the St. Petersburg Economic Forum (SPIEF) where she commented on Russia’s use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for international trade, per a report from state-media outlet Kommersant."Our position is that cryptocurrency should not be used as...

The Navy is training its members to create a "safe space" by using proper gender pronouns in a new instructional video modeled after a children's show. "Hi! My name is Jony, and I use he/him pronouns," Naval Undersea Warfare Center engineer Jony Rozon, who sports a rainbow-colored t-shirt, states in the video's opening. The official training video is meant to emphasize "the importance of using correct pronouns as well as polite etiquette when you may not be sure of someone's pronouns," according to the Navy, which late last month published the video online. The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service touts...

The White House earlier this month reaffirmed its stance that the Taiwan Strait constitutes "international waters" following the latest US warship sail-through, which had put China's PLA Eastern Theatre Command on high alert. As Reuters reported last Tuesday, "The United States on Tuesday backed Taiwan's assertion that the strait separating the island from China is an international waterway, a further rebuff to Beijing's claim to exercise sovereignty over the strategic passage."This prompted Beijing to issue its own statement and definition, hitting back that the strait is not "international waters" - thus placing limits on the movements of foreign military vessels...

It appears that the United States just became the only country in the world to “vaccinate” babies and toddlers with COVID injections.Despite what you are reading in the press, the U.S. seems to be, as of Friday, the only country in the world to partake in experimental COVID therapeutics for infants. On Friday, the FDA authorized mRNA COVID shots (both Pfizer and Moderna) under emergency use authorization for children under 5 years old, all the way down to 6 months of age. As you’ll see in a moment, this is unprecedented anywhere in the world.The approval made its way through...