RIGHT JOURNOS DECLARE INDEPENDENCE: It was seven years ago when Investors’ Business Daily (IBD) went down, taking with it one of the finest editorial page sections in the country. But members of the team writing the editorials and columns refused to wave a white flag.

So they started “Issues & Insight” (I&I) web site, which in the years since has consistently turned out superb free market/pro limited government-guided commentary on the issues of the day.

But being an independent editorial site on the Internet is no easy task and after trying all the ad partnerships (think Google’s AdSense), the team had enough of the censorship that came along with Big Tech. So they are now going 100% reader-supported.

Very much inspired by Mr. Jefferson’s original work, the I&I crew have now issued their own Declaration of Journalism Independence, and it is well-worth your time in giving it a good read.

 

SALENA ZITO: Young Washington: History’s ultimate gritty origin story.

The crushed stone along the quiet pathways here at the “Great Meadow” where Fort Necessity sits has always held wonder to me. Here is where 22-year-old George Washington, a brash, sometimes headstrong, but always ambitious young man trying to figure out his fate, suffered the first and only military surrender of his lifetime.

On the big screen, I’ve always imagined that the series of events that led to this moment, beginning with his run-in with the French Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre in present day Erie, to being shot point blank in Butler, to accidentally starting the French and Indian War in Jumonville Glen, would look vivid and stark — that they would show a man on his way to greatness despite failures along the way.

But after seeing the new film, Young Washington, and standing on the hollowed grounds of a meadow tucked away in the dense, green ridges of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, it is difficult to comprehend why it took so long for this story to be told.

It’s Salena, so of course, read the whole thing.

GHOST RIDERS IN THE (MASSACHUSETTS) SKY: Deep-dive data analysis by Open the Books of Medicaid-funded transportation of beneficiaries to medical services finds thousands of such rides took nobody anywhere, except taxpayers to the cleaners.

HISTORY: The Pentagon Paid Moldova $40 Million for 21 MiG-29s So Iran Couldn’t Have Them. The Minister Who Signed the Deal Went to Prison for It. “In 1997, the United States quietly paid a former Soviet republic tens of millions of dollars to buy an entire fighter regiment — not to fly it, but to keep it away from Iran, and to take it apart. The Moldova deal is remembered as one of the Pentagon’s cleanest nonproliferation coups, and in one sense it was: the intelligence haul shaped American weapons for a decade. But the full story runs stranger than the legend, taking in a rationale Moscow disputed the same week, a defense minister who went to prison for signing it, and six fighter jets that no one on Earth would ever buy.”

WHERE THE K-12 IMPLOSION MEETS THE HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE: College students’ academic readiness falls as universities expand support programs. “Universities nationwide are reporting concerns about declining academic proficiency among incoming students, as institutions expand tutoring, remediation, and academic support programs to address gaps in reading, writing, and mathematics skills.”

Universities just shouldn’t admit unready students, but they need the warm bodies, and the diversity points.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT [VIP]: A Tale of Two Air Wars. “A pair of overnight airstrikes didn’t just light up the skies over Russia and Ukraine on Sunday night; they illuminated the very different realities of a war now well into its fifth year.”

ONCE YOU SEE IT…:

…oh, wait — you saw it decades ago, didn’t you?

THANKS, FELLAS: OPEC+ companies slightly boosting production as oil prices slide.

Seven OPEC+ nations have said they will increase their production goals by 188,000 barrels per day. The participating countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman.

Multiple nations in the Middle East have had their oil production throttled by the war in Iran, which closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping lane in the region.

A temporary agreement between Iran and the Trump administration reopened the strait, meaning more oil should be able to flow and reach the market, sending prices downward.

Stay tuned…

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN…:

“They are also letting you know that they don’t care about evidence. They will accuse their enemies without any documented evidence. They will protect their own even with mountains of evidence.”

…and into the fire:

This is not your father’s quietly Republican Maine.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Der Platnerfürher Might Finally Be Too Creepy for the Dems. “Things should never have gotten this far with Platner and the Democrats. Let’s face it, the Nazi tattoo should have been the only disqualifier that they needed. The Democrats may be united in their frothing hatred of President Trump, but that has made them adrift in everything else. I’ve got decades of dealing with their tortured rationalizations under my belt but everything since November 2024 has really been out of control.”

FOOD STAMP FOLLY: One of every 10 Food Stamp payments by the federal government is incorrect, usually more than it should be and occasionally a little less. Trump’s Ag Sec, Brooke Rollins, is implementing needed reforms.

BRING IT ON HOME: Toyota to invest $3.6 billion to move Tacoma pickup truck production from Mexico to Texas.

The investment is expected to create 2,000 U.S. jobs at the facility, add a second vehicle assembly line and roughly double the size of the 2.7-million-square-foot plant by 2030, the automaker said. It will expand the plant’s annual capacity from roughly 200,000 to 350,000 units, Toyota said.

The announcement is part of Toyota’s stated plans to invest up to $10 billion more than previously expected domestically in the U.S. through 2030. It comes less than a week after the Trump administration confirmed it would not extend its trilateral trade pact with Canada and Mexico, instead opting to conduct annual reviews.

It shouldn’t need to be said, but building things here is good.

YES:

“You have to step back and ask yourself who are these people and what are they trying to do to both our society and the people in it?”