THE AFFORDABILITY HOAX:  Appearing in Pennsylvania last night to connect with the public’s worries about the price of living and affordability of daily life, President Trump blamed Democrats, lied about lower prices, and mocked the affordability “hoax.”

  “They said, ‘Oh he doesn’t realize prices are higher.’ Prices are coming down very substantially,” Trump said. “But they have a new word. You know, they always have a hoax. The new word is affordability.” 

  Around Trump, the stage at the Mount Airy Casino Resort was decorated with signs reading, “Lower Prices Bigger Paychecks.” 

  Inflation is almost the same as it was at the end of the Biden administration and Trump’s approval ratings on handling the economy are in the mid 30s.

  In a wandering 90-minute speech he claimed to be crushing inflation while bringing higher wages and swelling retirement plans. He praised his own trade policies while ignoring that they have brought higher costs and that he has to bail out the farming industry.

  Trump diverted into rants on several subjects, including transgenderism and electric vehicles. He complained about immigration and Somalian immigrants. Referring back to comments he made in the Oval Office in 2018, Trump related that, “I said, ‘Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right?’” Trump recounted. “’Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few. Let us have a few from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind?’ But we always take people from Somalia. Places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”

THE REGIME: 

— The Environmental protection Agency under President Trump is erasing mention of human-caused climate change from its websites and instead referring to variations caused by nature. President Trump has dismissed climate change as a hoax.

  The EPA for instance removed a blunt statement that, “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.” The EPA now mentions only climate changes and effects caused by such things as volcanoes and variations in solar activity.

  Another page that said rising seas and shrinking Arctic ice are key indicators of changing climate has been deleted entirely.

  “Unlike the previous administration, the Trump EPA is focused on protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback, not left-wing political agendas,” Brigit Hirsch, EPA press secretary, wrote in an email to The Washington Post. “As such, this agency no longer takes marching orders from the climate cult.”

— The Education Department has recalled hundreds of fired employees, including many lawyers, to handle complaints of discrimination in the country’s schools. 

— Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered his department to revert to use of Times New Roman typeface in all official documents rather than the less formal Calibri used by the Biden administration.

  A memo obtained by The NY Times says that switching back to Times New Roman would “restore decorum and professionalism to the department’s written work.” Calibri is “informal” when compared to serif typefaces like Times New Roman, the order said, and “clashes” with the department’s official letterhead.

  The change to Calibri under Secretary of State Antony Blinken was intended to improve accessibility for readers with disabilities, such as poor vision and dyslexia, and people who use assistive technologies, like screen readers. Rubio has denounced that as a “woke” diversity effort.

— President Trump posted the following on his social media account: “After all of the work I have done with Medical Exams, Cognitive Exams, and everything else, I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean  “THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.” They are true Enemies of the People, and we should do something about it. They have inaccurately reported on all of my Election Results and, in fact, were forced to apologize on much of what they wrote. The best thing that could happen to this Country would be if The New York Times would cease publication because they are a horrible, biased, and untruthful “source” of information. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

STONEWALLING: A Virginia lawsuit has gone to trial over a local school board’s decision to restore the names of Confederate generals to their high schools. The Shenandoah County School Board voted last year to rename two high schools for Generals Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Turner Ashby. (Ashby Lee HS)

  The plaintiffs say Black students are forced to bear the names of men who fought for slavery, particularly on their athletic uniforms. They say it is an infringement on their right to free speech. But that part of Virginia, about an hour and a half west Washington, still holds deep ties to the Confederacy. 

THE SPIN RACK: Eileen Higgins, 61, a former Miami-Dade commissioner, yesterday was elected Miami’s first female mayor and first Democrat in almost 30 years.  She was elected in a rout. Cuban American Republicans have dominated Miami politics over the past three decades. — A 48-year-old suspect is in custody after the fatal shooting of one student and critical wounding of a second at Kentucky State University in Frankfort. The suspect was not a student. — Supporters for a Michigan Cinnabon clerk fired for a racist tirade against two Somalian customers have raised $130,000 for her benefit. The clerk had called the customers “niggers” and said, “No I’m racist and I’ll say that to the entire world.” The fundraising website says, “No White person should lose their job for refusing to be harassed by Somalians.”

BELOW THE FOLD:  Australia has invoked a social media ban for all children under age 16. Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Twitch face fines of up to $33 million if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts of children younger than 16.

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