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Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:16 p.m. No.24973079   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3267 >>3477 >>3683 >>3776 >>3798

Report: Taxpayers Funding $230 Million In Federal Grants Tied To 'Intersectionality'

 

The federal government has awarded about $230 million to programs referencing "intersectionality," with much of the funding originating during the Biden administration, according to a new report from two policy groups.

 

The Defense of Freedom Institute and Legal Insurrection Foundation identified 249 federal assistance records that used the term "intersectionality," an ideological framework that examines race, sex, class and other characteristics in assessing discrimination and privilege.

 

According to the report, about $140 million has been spent, while another $90 million remains obligated. Funding surged during former President Joe Biden's administration, peaking at $80.1 million in 2023, before declining under President Donald Trump.

 

Some grants remain active through 2030, and roughly 100 of the 249 awards identified by researchers appear to be ongoing.

 

"Amazingly, we have discovered that the federal government has been funding the Intersectionality movement," William Jacobson, founder of the Legal Insurrection Foundation and a Cornell Law School professor, told the New York Post. "This has to stop."

 

The grants encompass projects ranging from medical research to universities, museums and community programs. In some cases, intersectionality was one component of research receiving federal support rather than the primary purpose of the grant.

 

Among the awards highlighted was nearly $11 million to the New Hampshire Department of Health for cancer prevention and control programs. The program targeted populations experiencing health disparities, including what it described as an "intersectionality of gender and income inequality."

 

Other examples included $8.16 million to New York University for a diabetes equity research center and $14.25 million to Drexel University for a program intended to increase diversity among faculty studying health disparities.

 

The report's authors warn that embedding intersectionality into federal programs could encourage recipients to make decisions based on race and other protected characteristics while disguising those practices in academic terminology.

 

"This report shows just how deeply intersectional ideology has become embedded in the federal grant-making apparatus," Defense of Freedom Institute President Robert Eitel said.

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/report-taxpayers-funding-230-million-federal-grants-tied-intersectionality

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:23 p.m. No.24973098   🗄️.is 🔗kun

World faces historic population decline – study

 

Global fertility may have fallen below replacement level, threatening workforces, aging societies, and mounting economic pressure within roughly one generation

 

Global fertility may have fallen below replacement level for the first time in human history, putting the world population on course for decline within roughly one generation, a new study has warned.

 

The paper, Terra Incognita: The Economics of a Shrinking World, published earlier this month by economics professor Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde of the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University researcher Patrick Norrick, warns that prolonged low fertility could shrink workforces, rapidly age societies, and strain economies and welfare systems.

 

The researchers estimate that humanity is likely already below replacement fertility – the average number of children per woman needed for each generation to replace itself. The global threshold is around 2.2, while the study puts the current rate at no higher than 2.19, suggesting the world may have only just crossed it.

 

“As of 2026, humanity is likely to be below replacement level: we are having fewer births than we need to keep population constant in the long run… this has never happened before in our history as a species, not even during wars or pandemics,” the authors stated.

 

The analysis covers 236 countries and territories from 1950 to 2023, with fertility declining in 219. On average, countries have lost around 0.062 births per woman annually, and there is little evidence the trend is leveling off, authors note.

 

The global population is not shrinking yet because large generations born in previous decades are still having children, but the researchers estimate this effect could sustain growth for only another three decades, with population peaking at around 9 billion in 2056 before declining.

 

The authors note the trend has spread well beyond rich countries, with fertility rates in 2025 estimated at just 0.87 in Thailand, 1.01 in Colombia, 1.35 in Iran and 1.52 in Brazil. They say there is no automatic mechanism driving fertility back toward replacement level because there is no single explanation for falling birth rates: while housing and childcare costs, economic insecurity, contraception, and changing social norms may all contribute, none fully explains the global trend.

 

The economic consequences of the looming population decline could be far-reaching, the study warns. Smaller generations mean fewer workers supporting growing elderly populations, straining pensions, healthcare, and public finances while slowing growth. In the US, the authors estimate that 2% annual productivity growth combined with a 0.5% contraction in the workforce would reduce long-term GDP growth to roughly 1.5%.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/644626-world-historic-population-decline/

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:28 p.m. No.24973115   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Government funded F-35 parts suppliers profiting from Gaza destruction

 

Parts from 75 Australian companies are included on every one of Israel’s F-35I Air fighter jets, seen here at Nevatim Airbase in Israel, just 45 kms east and two minutes flying time from Gaza.

 

The Australian Government is providing grants and loans to a web of Australian companies making lethal parts for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets.

 

Tom Orsag with the story.

 

Research of ‘open-source intelligence’, from trade magazines and regional news articles, has pieced together a disturbing picture of corporate investment in weapons manufacture.

 

One Australian-owned, private equity capital company is now the owner of five of the Australian companies which make F-35 fighter jet parts, and it is funded by a multi-million dollar federal government loan granted just last November.

 

CPE Capital

CPE Capital (CPEC) is a large Australian private capital manager, undertaking buyouts, partnerships and investments and is based in Sydney. It says it has managed $4.5B in funds since its creation in 1987.

 

Its subsidiary, Australian Sovereign Defence and Advanced Manufacturing or ASDAM, proudly claims to be Australia’s largest supplier to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, operating from 20 locations across Australia and the US.

 

Australian company contracts to manufacture parts and engines for the F-35 fighter jets “surpassed” $5B in April 2025, and around 75 Australian companies are getting a slice of that pie.

 

CPEC bought two of those parts makers, Marand Precision in June 2019, and Levett Engineering in November 2019.

 

Levett had already been servicing Lockheed Martin F-35s and their Pratt & Whitney jet engines. Marand Precision builds the vertical tails for the F-35.

 

In September 2022, CPEC’s ASDAM added two more parts manufacturers to is portfolio, Rosebank Engineering (formerly RUAG) and TAE Aerospace.

 

Rosebank Engineering is the manufacturer of the vertical tails and uplock actuators, which are both for the landing gear and the bomb bay doors of the F-35. As well, it does F-35 wheel and brake repairs.

 

TAE Aerospace makes the engine components, electro-hydrostatic actuation system components, aperture electronics modules, chassis, electronic warfare and avionic racks and components, and communication, navigation and identification system components and software for the F-35.

 

It is the sole Asia-Pacific provider of maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) for the Pratt and Whitney jet engines used on the F-35.

 

After CPEC’s two 2022 purchases, the Financial Review estimated the value in revenue of the now four parts-makers to be around $400 million.

 

CPE Capital bought a fifth parts-making company in May 2025, Quickstep Holdings. It is the maker of vertical tails and carbon fibre centre fuselage composites for the F-35.

 

CPE Capital/ASDAM, through its five companies, now operates manufacturing facilities at 15 sites across Australia, all making parts for or servicing engines of the F-35.

 

Government support

In November 2025, the Albanese government loaned ASDAM $150m, from an ‘industry fund’ which it set up in September 2023.

 

The loan was said to allow ASDAM to “refinance its debt” and “for future growth”.

 

The industry fund, called the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), has $15B allocated to it, and is administered by the Minister for Industry and Science and the Minister for Finance.

 

The current Minister of Industry is NSW Senator Tim Ayres, a former state Secretary of the NSW branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU), now a voting member for the Labor Party’s National Executive, and a factional ally of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

 

More

https://michaelwest.com.au/government-funded-f-35-parts-suppliers-profiting-from-gaza-destruction/

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:30 p.m. No.24973120   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Send Hillel Newman home: Australia has tolerated his contempt long enough

 

Hillel Newman has been in Canberra six months. Twice summoned. Twice unrepentant.

 

He has ridiculed an Australian Federal Police investigation into allegations that Australians were beaten, tortured and raped. He branded the survivors frauds before a statement was taken. He defended the army that cleared itself over the killing of an Australian aid worker. Then he told readers of The Australian they are more hateful than the dictatorships he used to serve in.

 

That is not a diplomat losing his footing. It is contempt as policy. He is counsel for impunity, with a diplomatic number plate.

 

Zomi Frankcom

Start with Zomi Frankcom. On 1 April 2024 three clearly marked World Central Kitchen vehicles were struck in succession near Deir al Balah. Seven aid workers died. Her family says survivors crawled from one vehicle to the next only to be struck again. Israel conceded grave failures. Mark Binskin’s review for Canberra recorded a catastrophic breakdown in decision making.

 

Two years later the Israeli military examined the Israeli military and found no crime. Canberra got moments of warning, too late to tell Zomi’s family. The decision landed on World Humanitarian Day, the day an award was announced in her name.

 

Newman lectured. Findings of a court, he said, cannot be attacked because they fail to suit a political agenda. He refused liability.

 

He refused to say sorry.

 

The death of an Australian reduced to risk management. Grief, carefully portioned. Regret, scrubbed of responsibility.

 

The family asked for the drone footage and an independent investigation. Newman offered what Israel has offered for two years. Trust us. Stop asking. Stephen Lawrence MLC asks the obvious question. The International Criminal Court exists for states that cannot or will not investigate themselves, and that Court has already issued a warrant for Israel’s prime minister.

 

So why did Australia let the Israeli army judge the killing of an Australian, and why does it still host the man who calls that verdict beyond challenge?

 

Hating on Australians

Then the column. In 26 years as a diplomat, Newman wrote, he had never seen hatred of Jews like Australia’s. Not in Uzbekistan. Not in Tajikistan. Australians protesting a war were obsessive herds. It ran as Labor prepared to debate Gaza. A foreign official intervened in a domestic fight and traduced his host nation to do it.

 

Antisemitism is real and must be fought. That is exactly why it cannot be conscripted as a shield for a foreign government. Folding evidence of abuse into hatred of Jews does not protect Jewish Australians. It uses them, and it insults those who refuse to be body armour for Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Penny Wong says expulsion would diminish Australia’s ability to engage. Matt Thistlethwaite calls him a conduit. A conduit runs both ways. Newman is a valve. Israeli denials pour in. Australian demands go nowhere. Engagement on those terms is submission with better stationery.

 

Expulsion does not sever relations. Australia keeps its embassy in Tel Aviv. Israel keeps its embassy in Canberra and sends someone capable of the job’s most basic requirement, some respect for the country receiving him. The Albanese Government should stop summoning Newman for scoldings he plainly regards as theatre and declare him persona non grata.

 

Every day he remains tells Australians that a foreign envoy may sneer at their police, smear their wounded and excuse the killing of one of their own without consequence. That is not restraint. It is self abasement.

 

Send him home.

 

https://michaelwest.com.au/send-israeli-ambassador-hillel-newman-home/

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:31 p.m. No.24973123   🗄️.is 🔗kun

“The financial history of the last century shows a steady increase in the amount of public indebtedness. Nobody believes that the states will eternally drag the burden of these interest payments. It is obvious that sooner or later all these debts will be liquidated in some way or other, but certainly not by payment of interest and principal according to the terms of the contract.” – Ludwig von Mises

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:37 p.m. No.24973139   🗄️.is 🔗kun

#Australiaiscooked

 

Australia's largest supermarket chain, Woolworths, has seen its profit surge. Woolworths' headline profit rose 18% to $1.138 billion.

 

Woolworths sales data shows it remained competitive over the past 12 months.

 

Its supermarket sales rose 4.6% to $53.9 billion.

 

This was due to existing customers buying more online, its eCommerce business.

 

Australian supermarket total sales also increased by 7.6% for the first eight weeks of this financial year off the back of Woolworths's Disney Ooshies collectables program.

 

CEO Amanda Bardwell will update the market later today to say that Woolworths's earnings growth was building before the Ooshies campaign delivered for the group, but it's helped to build on ongoing sales momentum.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-26/asx-markets-business-live-credit-fund-limits-redemptions/107077366

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:45 p.m. No.24973173   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Deloitte agrees to pay $21.5 million to resolve alleged employment discrimination violations

 

WASHINGTON – Today, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced another False Claims Act resolution secured under the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which was launched by the Department in May 2025. Deloitte LLP, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Deloitte & Touche LLP, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP, and Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP, (collectively, Deloitte) have agreed to pay the United States $21.5 million to resolve allegations that Deloitte violated the False Claims Act by failing to comply with anti-discrimination requirements in its federal contracts and discriminating against employees and applicants on the basis of their race or sex.

 

Most federal contracts contain a provision that requires contractors to provide equal opportunity to employees and applicants for employment. As a condition to being a federal contractor, the company must certify that it will not discriminate against an employee or applicant for employment because of race or sex and must further certify that it will take steps to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, “without regard to” race or sex. The settlement resolves allegations that from 2017 to the present, Deloitte falsely certified compliance with these conditions, while engaging in discriminatory race and sex-based employment practices.

 

“Government contractors cannot reward or penalize employees based on race or sex—and labeling the practice DEI does not make it lawful,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The Justice Department will aggressively pursue government contractors that have used taxpayer dollars to fund unlawful discrimination.”

 

“Merit drives opportunity and promotion. Not someone’s sex or race,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. “Today’s settlement is yet another example of this Department’s commitment to eliminating woke, unconstitutional practices from American workplaces.”

 

“As this settlement shows, the government is committed to ensuring that those who receive the benefits of federal contracts or funding must play by the rules,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould. “The False Claims Act is a powerful tool for enforcing those obligations, and my office will not hesitate to use it to investigate and uncover any violations and to hold the responsible parties accountable.”

 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/deloitte-agrees-pay-215-million-resolve-alleged-employment-discrimination-violations

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:47 p.m. No.24973180   🗄️.is 🔗kun

As Children Return to School, U.S. Attorney Announces Prosecutions of Six Trusted Adults Accused of Exploiting Minors

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri announced six recent prosecutions involving trusted adults accused of exploiting children while serving in positions of authority. This announcement comes on the heels of back-to-school season and is part of the district’s ongoing commitment to protect children from alleged predators.

 

“When parents send their children to school, they do so with the expectation that their children are in the care of trusted adults,” said R. Matthew Price, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. “They should never have to question whether a teacher, school administrator, or coach, is exploiting or putting their child at risk. Our office, together with our law enforcement partners, will continue to aggressively pursue and prosecute those who compromise the safety, security, and well-being of children in our district. Protecting children is among our highest priorities, and we will hold accountable anyone who threatens their safety, to the fullest extent of the law.”

 

“We entrust our educators with one of the most important responsibilities in our communities: helping shape the lives and futures of our children,” said Chris Ormerod, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kansas City Field Office. We trust them to educate our students, to teach them the values of responsible citizenship, and to provide guidance and life lessons that extend far beyond the classroom. The vast majority of educators across this country honor that responsibility every day and we deeply commend them for their dedication and service. But make no mistake: when an educator abuses their position of trust to exploit a child, that will not be tolerated. The FBI will pursue those who prey upon children and will work to ensure that offenders are held accountable under the law.”

 

Matthew Joseph Wick, 35, Independence, Mo., is a guidance counselor at Raytown South Middle School. On Aug. 25, 2026, a federal grand jury charged Wick with one count of possession of child pornography. According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Wick’s telephone provider submitted several cyber tip reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding videos that were uploaded to the provider’s cloud storage for Wick’s account. According to court documents, investigators discovered that there was a secure folder that contained 55 video files that constituted child pornography on Wick’s cellular device. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Independence, Missouri Police Department.

 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/children-return-school-us-attorney-announces-prosecutions-six-trusted-adults-accused

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:48 p.m. No.24973183   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3192 >>3202

Operator of Minnesota-Based Money Transmitter Charged with Laundering Drug Proceeds for Mexican Cartel Following Homeland Security Task Force Investigation

 

MINNEAPOLIS – United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen announced today that a federal grand jury in the District of Minnesota returned an indictment on August 20, 2026, charging Christopher A. Bravo Marin, aka Bravo, 46, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, a Mexican national, with conspiring to launder at least $750,000 in drug proceeds on behalf of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of the most prolific and dangerous drug cartels in Mexico.

 

Bravo was arrested yesterday by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents. He appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge in Minneapolis on August 25, 2026.

 

“The indictment alleges that this defendant abused his position at a financial institution to help the CJNG cartel launder money from its drug sales back to Mexico,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Cartels rely on financial facilitators to ensure that cartel leadership in Mexico receive the profits from the heinous crimes they perpetrate here in the United States. The Criminal Division is relentless in its mission to take the profit out of crime, including by prosecuting those who help funnel drug proceeds back to cartel management.”

 

“This defendant strengthened a criminal infrastructure by helping transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds to cartel leaders,” said United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen. “My office remains committed to taking down drug trafficking organizations that threaten the public safety of the people of Minnesota.”

 

“These types of cases are exactly why Homeland Security Task Forces are so important in stopping transnational criminal activity,” said Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard of HSI St. Paul. “They bring a whole-of-government approach to combating serious criminals who commit serious crimes and endanger people in our communities every day. Through coordinated law enforcement partnerships, we are better positioned to disrupt these networks and protect the public.”

 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/operator-minnesota-based-money-transmitter-charged-laundering-drug-proceeds-mexican

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 4:52 p.m. No.24973196   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Former City Councilmen for Baldwin Park and Compton Sentenced to Federal Prison for Their Roles in Bribery Schemes

 

LOS ANGELES – Two former city councilmen for Baldwin Park and Compton were each sentenced to 18 months in federal prison terms today for engaging in corrupt acts while they were elected officials, including the payment and acceptance tens of thousands of dollars in bribes for a police union’s support and to obtain official city permits for marijuana cultivation.

 

Ricardo Pacheco, 63, of Baldwin Park, who served on the Baldwin Park City Council from 1997 until his resignation in 2020 and served as the city’s mayor pro tempore in 2018, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison by United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II, who also fined him $10,000 and ordered him to forfeit $219,755. A restitution hearing will be scheduled in the coming weeks.

 

Judge Wright today also sentenced Isaac Jacob Galvan, 39, of Compton, who served on the Compton City Council from 2013 to 2022, to 18 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $323,557 in restitution.

 

Ricardo Pacheco

 

Pacheco pleaded guilty in June 2020 to one count of federal program bribery and admitted to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes – including $20,000 in cash – from a Baldwin Park Police officer working at the FBI’s direction, in exchange for the councilmember’s political support of the Baldwin Park Police Association’s contract with the city.

 

Pacheco, who agreed to fully cooperate with federal prosecutors, solicited and received a total of $37,900 in bribes from a Baldwin Park police officer from January through October 2018 to support and vote for the Police Association’s contract, which was worth at least $4.4 million over three years. The police officer who made the payments did so at the direction of the FBI after another officer and he approached the FBI and agreed to assist in its ongoing corruption investigation. In exchange for the payments, Pacheco voted in favor of the Police Association contract in March 2018.

 

The payments to Pacheco included a $20,000 cash bribe in October 2018, which the police officer provided to him in an envelope in a Baldwin Park coffee shop. Pacheco also solicited and received $17,900 in checks that he directed be made out to his church and sham political action committees he had set up using other individuals’ names but which he controlled.

 

In June 2020, Pacheco resigned from his Baldwin Park City Council seat as part of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors. He also forfeited $83,145 in cash proceeds seized by the FBI, which included $62,900 that Pacheco said he had buried in his backyard in two locations.

 

The FBI investigated this matter.

 

Isaac Jacob Galvan

 

Galvan pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of federal program bribery and one count of evasion of tax assessment. He admitted to paying $70,000 in bribes to Pacheco – then serving on the Baldwin Park City Council – in exchange for Pacheco’s votes and support for commercial marijuana permits and further admitted to failing to report to the IRS more than half a million dollars in income.

 

In June 2017, Baldwin Park began permitting the cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of marijuana within its city limits. Soon afterward, Pacheco began soliciting bribes from businesses seeking marijuana development agreements and related permits in the city. In exchange for the illicit payments, Pacheco agreed to use his position in city government to assist the companies with obtaining marijuana permits, including voting in their favor.

 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/former-city-councilmen-baldwin-park-and-compton-sentenced-federal-prison-their-roles

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 5:19 p.m. No.24973307   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3308 >>3631

KEK

 

9/11 SECRET FILES: FBI/CIA records reveal two Saudi government employees “may have served as an advance team” for the hijackers.

 

The 9/11 Commission report does not explore the Saudi “Advance Team” nor the 1999 "casing video" of Washington D.C.

 

After our 2025 investigation, the 9/11 families pressed the US government to release the FBI's analysis of Saudi phone records that is still hidden from the public.

 

There is compelling evidence the US-based support network secured housing, bank accounts, driver’s licenses and even helped identify flight schools for the hijackers.

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/2091683591579213827

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 5:23 p.m. No.24973323   🗄️.is 🔗kun

16 Facts About The Shocking Decline Of Public Education In The U.S. That Every American Should Know

 

#1 Nearly one-fifth of all high school graduates in the United States cannot even read at a functional level…

 

National statistics indicate that close to one-fifth of high school graduates are unable to read at a functional level. This means they cannot effectively comprehend and use written information in daily life or work settings.

 

#2 Only 35 percent of high school seniors are proficient at reading, and only 22 percent of high school seniors are proficient at math…

 

The scale of the crisis is staggering. Only 35% of high school seniors read at a proficient level. One-third lack basic reading comprehension skills. In mathematics, the picture is even bleaker. Only 22% achieved proficiency. Alarmingly, 45% can’t even manage basic math. Around 2/3 are academically unprepared for college in math and reading. Even prestigious universities like Harvard must offer remedial courses for incoming freshmen lacking foundational skills.

 

#3 For high school seniors in the United States, math scores have fallen to the lowest level since 2005 and reading scores have fallen to the lowest level since 1992…

 

The latest report card on American education is in, and it’s devastating. The 2025 National Assessment of Educational Progress, released last month, revealed that the nation’s 12th-graders hit a historic performance low. Math scores cratered to levels not seen since 2005. Reading scores plummeted to their lowest level since testing began in 1992.

 

#4 According to the most recent NAEP assessment, only 28 percent of 8th grade students in the United States are proficient at math…

 

Only 28% of 8th graders scored proficient in math on the latest NAEP assessment. The effects are most severe in low-income districts, where school closures, chronic absenteeism, and staffing instability have compounded over time.

 

#5 In just one decade, the percentage of 13-year-olds enrolled in algebra dropped from 34 percent to 24 percent…

 

According to the OECD, our average student is almost a full year behind the average student from other countries. Singapore’s students are three years ahead of ours. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), our students are also developing slower than in previous years. In 2023, only 24% of America’s 13-year-olds were enrolled in algebra. A decade earlier, that number was 34%.

 

#6 It appears that the pandemic had a substantial negative impact on both the reading skills and the math skills of our fourth-grade students…

 

In spring 2023, just 56 percent of American fourth-graders were performing on grade level in math, down from 69 percent in 2019, according to just one example of test score data cited in the report.

 

Declines in reading were less stark but still concerning, and concentrated in earlier grades, with 65 percent of third-graders performing on grade level, compared with 72 percent in 2019. Recovery in reading has also been slower, with some researchers finding essentially no rebound since students returned to the classroom.

 

#7 At this point, only 26 percent of U.S. adults can name all three branches of government…

 

Only 26% of American adults can name the three branches of government. Less than one-quarter of college graduates knew that the First Amendment prohibits Congress from establishing a national religion. Most adults have no idea how many Justices serve on the Supreme Court. Tragically, Princeton University found that barely one-third (36%) of adults could pass a multiple-choice test consisting of questions taken from the U.S. Citizenship Test.

 

#8 Almost two-thirds of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 are not able to identify the United Kingdom on a map of the world…

 

Sixty percent of students could not identify the countries the United States fought in World War II. Only 24% knew why the colonists fought against the British. Only 24% could identify Benjamin Franklin as a Founder with more students (37%) believing that he invented the light bulb. Our students fared no better in basic geography. A National Geographic study found that nearly two-thirds of Americans (ages 18-24) were unable to identify the United Kingdom (one of our most dependable foreign allies) on a world map. Closer to home, most young Americans were unable to identify the state of Ohio on a map.

 

https://themostimportantnews.com/archives/16-facts-about-the-shocking-decline-of-public-education-in-the-u-s-that-every-american-should-know

Anonymous ID: b12288 Aug. 25, 2026, 5:28 p.m. No.24973349   🗄️.is 🔗kun

One Bad Week

 

By Ron Paul

 

1It took around two hundred years for US government debt to reach one trillion dollars. By contrast, in less than half a year a trillion was added to bring the debt total to the 40 trillion dollars it reached last week. According to the Peterson Foundation, US government debt is on a path to reach 50 trillion dollars within the next six years.

 

Despite promising to reduce government spending in all three of his presidential campaigns, President Trump, with the assistance of congressional Republicans and Democrats, has continued to grow the government debt.

 

Concerns over all but a handful of politicians in Washington, DC supporting adding to the government’s debt, along with worries over the effects of the ongoing Iran war, caused the interest rate on long term Treasury bonds (referred to as the yield) to increase. They reached their highest level since June of 2007 — a little over a year before the beginning of the great recession.

 

Following the yield increase, the Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that it would start purchasing at least twice the amount of long-term bonds that it had previously planned to purchase, reducing the supply of long-term bonds in an effort to reduce the yield. The Treasury’s intervention initially lowered yields. However, the next day the yield on Treasury bonds rose again.

 

The Treasury and the Federal Reserve will feel continued pressure to keep interest rates low. This is because a small percentage increase in interest rates can cause a big increase in US debt payments.

 

By keeping interstate rates artificially low, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury weaken the value of the dollar. This, along with the skyrocketing fuel prices as a result of the Iran war, is why wages are not keeping pace with the rising cost of living. Even many of the Americans whose paychecks are increasing are falling behind.

 

This erosion of the dollar’s value is why 29 percent of Americans have used buy now, pay later loans in the last year to pay for expenses such as rent and groceries. Another consequence of the dollar’s shrinking value is that, according to a survey by digital finance company Achieve, 53 percent of Americans are carrying credit card balances for necessary expenses.

 

British historian Niall Ferguson has argued that empires are at risk when government spends more on servicing its debt than on so-called national security. It seems as if the Trump administration is responding to this argument with the worst possible solution. It is proposing a huge increase in already bloated military spending, ensuring “national security” spending can keep ahead of yearly interest payments on the national debt. Instead of paying more for the military-industrial complex and foreign intervention, the US government should be focused on reducing spending that causes the continuing growth in debt.

 

America’s welfare-warfare state appears to be in its final days. The economic crisis that will lead to the end of the current system will likely involve the rejection of the dollar’s reserve currency status. This will cause a collapse in the dollar’s value. In this situation, Americans will have an opportunity to replace the authoritarianism of both the left and right wing of the ruling uniparty with volunteerism in our economic lives, our personal lives, and our dealings with other countries.

 

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2026/08/ron-paul/one-bad-week/