After Decades of Easy Money, Young People Can’t Fathom Normal Interest Rates

Money Metals News Service
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After Decades of Easy Money, Young People Can’t Fathom Normal Interest Rates

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) After the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve embarked on nearly a decade of extraordinarily loose monetary policy. This not only incentivized the creation of a Debt Black Hole and introduced all kinds of malinvestments into the economy, but it also warped expectations.

We now have a generation of people working in and reporting on the financial sector who have no clue what a “normal” interest rate environment looks like. This warped perception of financial reality is leading to even more monetary malfeasance.

Between the Great Recession and the pandemic, the Fed injected nearly $9 trillion into the economy through quantitative easing (QE). It also slashed rates to zero for the first time ever in 2008. Rates didn’t lift off zero until December 2015, seven years later. By 2018, the Fed had only managed to push interest rates back to 2.5 percent. At that point, the economy went sideways, and the stock market crashed.

By 2019, the Fed had cut rates three times and ended balance sheet reduction. This was before COVID reared its ugly head. The pandemic gave the central bank the excuse it needed to slash rates to zero again. It wasn’t until March 2022 that the Fed started aggressively pushing rates higher.

The central bank ultimately drove rates to 5.5 percent. Most people perceive this as a high-interest-rate environment, given the decades of artificially low rates. But from a historical standpoint, that peak was slightly below the historical average.

As you can see from the chart, the Federal Reserve funds rate peaked just above the level of the 2006 peak. (You’ll also want to note the steep decline in rates beginning in 2006, long before the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession.)

You can also clearly see a general downward ratchet effect in rates over time. Each interest rate peak preceding a bust gets lower as the economy has become more addicted to easy money.

In effect, the economy needs bigger doses of the easy money drug to reinflate the bubble each time through the cycle.

The most notable aspect of the chart is the nearly 10 years of zero percent interest rates following the 2008 financial crisis. This is the real outlier. However, we have millions of people working in the financial sphere who have never experienced a “normal” interest rate environment during their careers. They imagine that zero is closer to the norm than five-and-a-half percent.

Mortgage Rates

We see this same disconnect between present perception and historical reality when it comes to mortgage rates.

The interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was running around 6.3 percent in mid-November. This is perceived as “high.”

It’s not.

Six to seven percent mortgage rates used to be the lower end of the normal range. That was before the Fed started skewing rates downward with interest rate policy and QE.

As WolfStreet explained, “The 6 percent to 7 percent mortgage rates are now only a big deal because home prices exploded by 50 percent and more in just two years from mid-2020 to mid-2022, after they’d already surged for years, inflating home prices to where they’re no longer economically feasible.”

Ironically, it was Fed policy that blew up the housing bubble to begin with. It was almost as if they learned nothing in the run-up to the subprime crisis and subsequent financial system meltdown in 2008.

“That home-price explosion was a result of the Fed’s reckless monetary policy that created 30-year fixed mortgage rates below 3 percent, while inflation had begun to rage and was heading to 9 percent. The Fed, with its reckless policies, orchestrated negative ‘real’ mortgage rates of -3 percent, -4 percent, and even lower – better than free money, and when money is free, buyers’ brains turn to mush, and prices don’t matter. Then the music stopped.”

This provides some insight as to why the Federal Reserve is intent on cutting rates despite sticky price inflation. In a sane world, the Fed would be holding rates higher and possibly even hiking. Instead, it is cutting into an inflationary environment.

To some degree, it’s a matter of necessity. After decades of low rates and multiple rounds of QE, the economy is addicted to easy money. A debt-riddled bubble economy simply can’t function in a normal rate environment. It needs more of the easy money drug. The Fed had a choice: keep the air in the bubbles or deal with inflation.

It picked the bubbles and surrendered to inflation.

But I also think the expectation of loose monetary policy is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. As long as people think low rates and money printing are the norm, you won’t find much resistance to this monetary malfeasance. And after decades of easy money, it seems normal. It’s a classic case of perception shaping reality.

But perception is not reality. This easy money world we live in isn’t normal. And imagining that it is won’t change the negative impacts.

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Texas Governor, Members of Congress Lead Effort to Ban Sharia Law in US

Headline USA Editor
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Texas Governor, Members of Congress Lead Effort to Ban Sharia Law in US

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square)  An anti-Sharia law movement is being led by Texas Republicans, including Texas’ governor and members of Congress.

Gov. Greg Abbott this week issued three directives targeting Islamic groups, first designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organizations.

On the same day, he issued his second directive, calling for the investigation of the Islamic Tribunal in north Texas. U.S. Rep. Keith Self, a Republican representing the district where the tribunal is located, called for Sharia law to be banned in the U.S.

“Sharia is the law of Islam,” Self said in a fiery speech on the House Floor. “Sharia is dangerous. Western values form the basis for the Founding of America, namely that rights come from our Creator; ours is a Christian-based culture. Sharia, on the other hand, is a culture of violence and domination, totally anathema to the concept of individual freedom.

“The United States Constitution and Sharia are fundamentally at odds with one another. The Constitution begins with ‘We the People,’ Sharia states, ‘Allah has said.’ Followers of Sharia believe Muhammad received a divine legal code that stands supreme over all man-made laws.

“While Western civilization has evolved, Islam has not. Islam is stuck in the 8th century, and if they succeed at imposing their beliefs on us, we will be dragged back into the ‘Dark Age.’”

Self also pointed to Sharia legal “punishments viewed as normative,” including stoning to death adulterers, public beatings of women, amputating hands of thieves, and executing Christians and Jews “in accordance with the Quran.”

The tribunal in north Texas’ constitution states, “Stoning adulterers, cutting of the hands, polyandry and the like (all can be traced in the relevant literature and can be explained in their Islamic legal mentality and rational context in fairness and justice), are mainly a part of Islamic Criminal Law.”

Last month, Self, joined Republican U.S. Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Randy Fine of Florida and Tim Burchett of Tennessee in introducing the Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act.

“America is facing an existential threat – the spread of Sharia Law,” Roy said. “From Texas to every state in the union, instances of Sharia Law adherents have threatened the American way of life, seeking to replace our legal system and Constitution with an incompatible ideology that diminishes the rights of women, children, and individuals of different faiths.”

Roy, who has authored numerous border security measures, said, “America’s immigration system must be fortified to counter the importation of Sharia adherents – the preservation of our constitutional republic and its people depend on it.”

The two-page bill would direct the U.S, attorney general and secretaries of the departments of Homeland Security and State to prevent foreign nationals who observe Sharia from entering the U.S. or from remaining in the country. Any foreign national who provides false statements about their adherence to Sharia Law would have their immigration benefits, visa or admittance to the country revoked and be considered inadmissible or deportable and removed from the U.S., according to the bill language.

The bill also includes a clause that states, once signed into law, the provisions are “nonreviewable” and final, and “shall not be subject to review by any court.”

This provision was included to prevent “activist courts and judges from upending a final decision from agencies that find Sharia adherents removable from the U.S.,” said Roy, who is running for Texas attorney general and has made banning Sharia law a part of his platform.

Prior to all of their actions, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, filed a bill multiple times over the past 10 years to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 to ban all Muslim Brotherhood members from the U.S., The Center Square reported.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization,” Cruz maintains. Its members are “committed to the overthrow and destruction of America and other non-Islamist governments across the world, and pose an acute threat to American national security interests,” he said when introducing the bill again in July. “American allies in the Middle East and Europe have already labeled the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, and the United States should do the same, and do so expeditiously.”

The bill would make Muslim Brotherhood members ineligible for visas or admittance to the U.S., revoke visas of all non-U.S. citizens who are confirmed Muslim Brotherhood members and require their deportation. It also would require the secretary of State to impose sanctions on all groups directly or indirectly controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, including Hamas.

Treasury Yields Rising Despite Fed Rate Cuts

Money Metals News Service
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Treasury Yields Rising Despite Fed Rate Cuts

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Since the October interest rate cut, the entire Treasury yield curve from 3-month to 30 years has gone up.

In other words, the Federal Reserve doesn’t have nearly as much control over interest rates as it would have you believe.

And by the way, mortgage rates have gone up, too.

For example, the 10-year Treasury yield rose 12 basis points in the two weeks following the October FOMC meeting. It was up 48 basis points since the first cut in the cycle back in September 2024.

In the two weeks following the October rate cut, the 30-year Treasury yield rose from 4.55 percent to 4.70 percent. It was at 3.94 percent before the rate cut in September 2024. To put that into perspective, the Fed after 150 basis points of Fed rate cuts, the 30-year Treasury was up by 76 basis points.

Mortgage rates have also crept back up since the October Fed meeting, climbing 22 basis points in the two weeks following the rate cut.

As WolfStreet explained, long-term yields react to bond-market issues such as future inflation expectations and the supply of new bonds to be absorbed rather than the mechanizations of a central bank.

“Cutting rates as inflation accelerates is a delicate operation that the bond market is not fond of. The bond market fears a Fed that is lackadaisical in the face of inflation. And the bond market is worried about the onslaught of new supply of bonds to fund the ballooning government deficits.”

Ramifications of Rising Treasury Yields

Rising yields in the face of rate cuts tell us that demand for Treasuries is weak. This is a big problem for the Federal government as it continues to borrow and spend at a relentless pace. The federal government needs yields to fall to ease the burden of interest payments. But the world seems less and less interested in financing Uncle Sam’s debt.

WolfStreet noted, “There are rising concerns in the bond market about the ballooning U.S. debt, and about the flood of new supply of Treasury securities that the government will have to sell in order to fund the out-of-whack deficits. Treasury buyers and holders are spread far and wide, but higher yields may be necessary to reel in the mass of new buyers needed.”

Earlier this year, analyst Artis Shepherd called the situation in the Treasury market “red lights blinking.”

“The bond market is sending a message to the U.S. government that its spending is out of control and the reserve currency ‘privilege’ it has abused for the last 80 years is running out.”

Given that the Fed is struggling to control the yield curve (especially the long end), it may be forced to take more aggressive measures and restart quantitative easing to put its big fat thumb on the Treasury market.

In fact, some analysts think the Fed will relaunch QE as early as next year.

In effect, the central bank would support the government’s borrowing by creating artificial demand for Treasuries by purchasing bonds and holding them on the balance sheet. This drives prices higher and yields lower, lowering the U.S. government’s borrowing costs.

While QE would ease the government’s borrowing problem, it would increase inflation. When the Fed runs QE operations, it buys bonds with money created out of thin air and injects it into the financial system. This is, by definition, inflation.

In a nutshell, the central bank has a choice. It can fight the inflation dragon, or it can surrender to inflation and prop up the bond market. It can’t do both. History tells us the Fed will pick inflation. You should prepare accordingly.

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Another Poll Shows Going To War With Venezuela Is Extremely Unpopular Among Americans

Headline USA Editor
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Another Poll Shows Going To War With Venezuela Is Extremely Unpopular Among Americans

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) A new CBS/YouGov poll has found that 70% of Americans oppose the US taking military action against Venezuela, reaffirming previous polls that show the idea of launching a war to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is extremely unpopular among Americans.

The new poll shows that the opposition to war with Venezuela is much stronger among Democrats, with 92% opposing military action against the country, while 42% of Republicans oppose attacking and 58% support the idea. The large majority of Independents (78%) also oppose attacking Venezuela.

The poll did find that the majority of Republicans believe President Trump needs congressional authorization to launch an attack on Venezuela, something the administration is not seeking. Overall, 76% of respondents said the president would need congressional authorization, including 95% of Democrats, 80% of independents, and 53% of Republicans.

The CBS/YouGov poll also found that 76% of Americans, including 92% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans, feel that the Trump administration has not clearly explained its position regarding the possibility of taking military action against Venezuela.

Regarding the US bombing campaign against alleged drug boats in the region, 75% of Americans believe the US should show evidence that the vessels it’s targeting had drugs on them, something the Trump administration has not been doing. The Pentagon has also acknowledged to Congress that it doesn’t know the identities of the people it has been killing on the boats.

The poll found that the majority of respondents, 53%, support the US using military force to attack boats that it suspects are bringing drugs into the US.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll asked if Americans supported using the military to conduct executions of suspected drug traffickers without a judge or a court being involved, which describes the bombing campaign more accurately, and found the majority (51%) opposed, while just 29% approved the extra-judicial executions.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com. 

 

Airlines Cancel Flights To Venezuela After US Warning of ‘Worsening Security Situation’

Headline USA Editor
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Airlines Cancel Flights To Venezuela After US Warning of ‘Worsening Security Situation’

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) International airlines have continued to cancel flights to Venezuela after the US’s Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning about flying near the country, a statement that came as the US continues to move toward launching a war with the goal of ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The FAA told pilots on Friday to “exercise caution” when flying in Venezuela’s airspace, due to the “worsening security situation and heightened military activity” around the country. It warned that unspecified threats could pose a risk to planes at any altitude, including during takeoff and landing.

The Associated Press reported on Sunday that so far, six carriers have canceled flights to Venezuela: TAP, LATAM, Avianca, Iberia, Gol, and Caribbean.

In recent weeks, the US has flown bombers near Venezuela, a US aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean, and the US has stepped up military exercises in Trinidad and Tobago. On Saturday, a US Navy destroyer conducted an operation off the coast of Guayana. The US has also continued its bombing campaign against alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, which has involved the extra-judicial execution of at least 82 people.

The White House has reportedly been considering dropping leaflets on Venezuela reminding Venezuelans that the US government has placed a $50 million bounty on Maduro’s head, though it’s unclear if it will follow through on the plan. Trump administration officials have been hoping that the US military buildup and psychological operations targeting Venezuela would be enough for Maduro to step down voluntarily or for someone in his inner circle to turn on him, but there’s no sign that either scenario will happen.

The Trump administration is set up to give itself a pretext to launch a war with Venezuela by expanding the State Department’s list of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” to include the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, a group that the US claims Maduro leads but doesn’t actually exist. The designation is set to take effect on Monday, according to a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The term “Cartel of the Suns” was first used in the 1990s to describe two Venezuelan military generals with sun insignias on their uniforms who were involved in the drug trade. One of the generals was working with the CIA at the time, according to a 1993 60 Minutes report. Today, the term is used to describe Venezuelan military and government officials who allegedly profit from drug trafficking, but the Cartel of the Suns doesn’t exist as a structured organization.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said last week that the FTO designation would give the Pentagon “options” to go after the non-existent cartel, which means target the Venezuelan government.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com. 

 

 

FBI Spreads Misinformation about Would-be Trump Assassin in Response to Media Reports

Ken Silva
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FBI Spreads Misinformation about Would-be Trump Assassin in Response to Media Reports

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) FBI Director Kashyap Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and an unnamed senior official provided an interview to Fox News about the July 13, 2024, Trump assassination attempt—revealing new details about the case for the first time in over a year, but also spreading misinformation.

The interview was in direct response to journalists Tucker Carlson, Breanna Morello and Miranda Devine all publishing separate reports about a trove of internet data from the alleged would-be assassin, Thomas Crooks. Carlson revealed Crooks’s violent online rhetoric, Morello published screenshots of his comments and some posts he purportedly made on DeviantArt, and Devine reported that Crooks used an online alias “Rod Swanson,” which is the same name as a former FBI agent who investigated the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting.

One of the biggest revelations from the trio of reports was from Carlson, who said Crooks discussed terrorism tactics with an account called @Willy_Tepes, which is linked to a Norwegian named Bjørn Leif Hjelmerud, a member of the neo-Nazi group Nordic Resistance Movement—a group classified as a terrorism organization by the State Department in June 2024.

Responding to that bombshell, the FBI told Fox News that Crooks never actually talked to the @Willy_Tepes account.

“Crooks posted on YouTube. Tepes is a Norwegian, Nordic resistance member. He simply responded to content Crooks posted,” Patel reportedly said, referencing a comment Tepes made on a 2020-era video posted on the video-sharing platform by Crooks.

However, Patel’s comment was false. Morello, Devine and Carlson all published screenshots of Crooks tagging @Willy_Tepes in his comments.

“The FBI claims Thomas Crooks never tagged or replied to Willy Tepes. That’s a lie. This screenshot from [Devine’s] reporting shows Crooks replying to and tagging him,” attorney Joseph McBride noted.

The significance of Crooks’s comments to @Willy_Tepes is that because of their violent nature—at one point, Crooks called for bombing federal buildings—they indicate that he should have been on law enforcement’s radar, according to former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker.

“It’s clear that he was popping off on the social media sites and saying things that should have garnered attention,” Swecker told the New York Post.

The FBI’s comments to Fox News about Crooks’s online comments weren’t the only misinformation. The unnamed official also said that “every single round was accounted for.” In fact, the House Task Force that investigated the assassination attempt found that one of the rounds allegedly fired by Crooks was never recovered.

Director Patel also made dubious claims about providing all the FBI’s evidence to Congress about the incident.

“Congress is accusing us of not turning over all of this stuff — but all of this stuff doesn’t exist. It is an empty narrative they’re firing into a vacuum,” Patel reportedly said. “The very limited information we have not turned over is respective to victims rights. There isn’t some trove of documents that we haven’t sent over there.”

The FBI further told Fox News that it provided Congress with nearly 3,000 pages of records, including FBI interview reports with Secret Service, state and local police, and state trooper. The FBI has also claimed to have provided local lab reports including ballistics, crime scene photos, videos “and more,” Fox reported.

Multiple members of Congress, including former House Task Force chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who represents the Butler area, have said that the FBI is stonewalling them. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., issued a subpoena for FBI records in July, but hasn’t indicated whether the bureau complied.

Meanwhile, the FBI denied Headline USA’s Freedom of Information Act request for records on the assassination attempt on the grounds that its investigation is still open, even though Patel has said it’s closed. Fox News reported that the case currently sits in a “pending, inactive” status.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

DNC is Deeply in Debt; RNC Overflowing w/ Cash

Ken Silva
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DNC is Deeply in Debt; RNC Overflowing w/ Cash

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Democrats had a strong election showing this month, winning the Virginia and New Jersey governor races, among others. But they had to go into debt to do it.

According to the New York Times, the Democratic National Committee took out a $15 million loan last month. It had a total of $18.3 million heading into the elections, including the loan.

By contrast, the Republican National Committee reportedly entered November with $91.2 million and no debts.

“Tapping a line of credit outside the crucible of a midterm or presidential election year is unusual for a major party committee, and it is the latest sign of financial distress for the official arm of the Democratic Party,” the Times reported Thursday.

However, the loan was apparently money well spent.

“The D.N.C. moved quickly to use the borrowed money, sending $3.2 million each to the New Jersey and Virginia governor’s races in recent months, as well as giving $175,000 to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party to mobilize voters before elections for the state’s Supreme Court. Democrats swept all those contests, and others across the nation,” the Times noted.

The Democrats also spent big in 2024, but performed far worse. The Kamala Harris presidential campaign spent $1.5 billion—or roughly $100 million per week, according to the Times.

“Her cash-rich campaign spared no expense as it hunted for voters—paying for an avalanche of advertising, social-media influencers, a for-hire door-knocking operation, thousands of staff, pricey rallies, a splashy Oprah town hall, celebrity concerts and even drone shows,” the Times reported last November.

“The frenzied spending has led to second-guessing among some Democrats, including whether investing in celebrity-fueled events with stars such as Lady Gaga and Beyoncé was more ostentatious than effective.”

One of the more surprising revelations from the Times report was Harris’s $12 million expenditure on polling, which was apparently necessary because incumbent President Joe Biden didn’t do any of that for her.

“Though Ms. Harris had been on the ticket from the start, her advisers discovered that the Biden operation had done virtually no research on her strengths and weaknesses,” the Times reported.

“Other major costs, according to records and campaign officials, included $111 million in online ads seeking donations, at least $100 million transferred to battleground-state parties, $70 million on mail and nearly $28 million to produce the merchandise that people were ordering,” the Times added.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

California Loses One Taxpayer Per Minute, Florida Gains

Headline USA Editor
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California Loses One Taxpayer Per Minute, Florida Gains

(, The Center Square) Florida welcomes a new taxpayer about every two minutes while California loses one about every minute, according to new data.

An analysis of data from the IRS conducted by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation found that Florida, Texas and North Carolina gain new taxpayers faster than any other state in the country.

Taxpayer Migration 2025
Taxpayer Migration Statistics Compiled from the National Taxpayer Union Foundation. Source: National Taxpayer Union Foundation

Florida gains a new taxpayer every 2 minutes and 9 seconds; Texas gains one every 2 minutes and 53 seconds; and North Carolina gains a new taxpayer every 6 minutes and 21 seconds.

Andrew Wilford, director of the Interstate Commerce Initiative at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, said state policies are attracting people and generating revenue. He estimated Florida is collecting $4 billion more per year for its budget from people moving to the Sunshine State.

“Welcoming people moving from other states means more job creators, more innovators, and a larger tax base from the economic activity that they generate,” Wilford said.

“States like Florida and Texas attract people because they have no income tax, but also their ability to attract people means a stronger economy that can generate added revenue from sales, property, and business taxes.”

South Carolina and Tennessee follow close behind as they gain a new taxpayer every 7 minutes and 30 seconds and 8 minutes and 42 seconds, respectively

Wilford said he was not surprised to see Tennessee high on the list of states taxpayers migrate toward.

“The state has a good business climate and no income tax, and the data shows people like that,” Wilford said.

NTU calculated its data based on most recent IRS surveys of how many taxpayers move into and out of a state each year.

The states losing taxpayers most frequently are California, New York and Illinois. California loses a taxpayer every 1 minute and 44 seconds; New York loses a taxpayer every 2 minutes and 23 seconds; and Illinois loses a taxpayer every 6 minutes and 4 seconds.

Massachusetts lost a resident every 11 minutes and 38 seconds while New Jersey lost one every 14 minutes and 14 seconds.

States losing population have attempted to reduce income taxes to keep businesses and individuals in the state. Vermont, which gains a new resident every 6 days, attempted to cover moving expenses for people moving to the state.

In California, legislators are trying to ease zoning restrictions to make it easier for people to stay and incentivize more moves into the state.

In New Mexico, population gains are largely driven by people ages 55 to 64 but the state is losing young people, Wilford said. Mississippi is gaining population from a wealthy tax bracket.

Wilford said the COVID-19 public health emergency also played a role in the dramatic shifts of state migration.

California saw a lost $9 billion in taxpayer funds during 2018, this number dramatically increased to $29 billion lost in 2020. On the other hand, Florida tax gains increased substantially, rising from $17 billion to $39 billion between 2018 and 2020.

“The pandemic and COVID policies accelerated a trend that was already happening,” Wilford said. “Many more Americans today are working remotely some of the time, and we see continued moves that reflect that.”

Nearly 550 Truck Drivers Cited for Not Understanding English in Illinois YTD

Headline USA Editor
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Nearly 550 Truck Drivers Cited for Not Understanding English in Illinois YTD

(, The Center Square) The number of English language proficiency violations for commercial drivers in Illinois year-to-date has nearly eclipsed last year’s totals with nearly 1 in 5 having CDL’s coming from the state of Illinois.

Since guidance was incorporated into the North American Standard Out-of-Service criteria in June, Illinois State Police tell The Center Square that 221 citations were issued for violating English Language Proficiency assessments.

A spokesperson said “every ISP officer conducting a commercial motor vehicle inspection initiates the inspection in English. If there is an indication the driver may not understand the inspector’s instructions, the inspector then conducts an English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessment.”

Year to date, about 550 drivers were cited for not understanding English. That’s just shy of totals for all of 2024. In 2023, there were 385. So far this year, 18% of those citations are given to in-state CDL holders.

“The vast majority of citations are given to out-of-state CDL holders,” the ISP spokesperson said.

State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, reacted to nearly 1 in 5 citations going to Illinois CDL holders.

“So we need to solve the problem in the state of Illinois, the federal government, other states need to solve the problem within their states,” Niemerg told The Center Square. “But it really does scare me.”

ISP said it could not accommodate The Center Square’s request to ride along with an enforcement officer to observe the frequency of such citations.

“Also very scary that they’re willing just to supply you that information and not actually allow you, as a journalist, to go on a ride along to figure out what’s happening here in the state of Illinois, because the ISP works directly for Gov. J.B. Pritzker,” Niemerg said. “Maybe there’s something to hide there that they don’t want you to see.”

In the wake of a fatal crash involving an illegal immigrant that killed a Coles County official and his wife last month, Niemerg has filed legislation to require those wanting an Illinois issued standard driver’s license to be a U.S. citizen. Illinois allows non-citizens to be issued a standard license.

“So we really have a situation where when law enforcement pulls over an illegal immigrant, that illegal immigrant cannot speak English, law enforcement cannot detain that individual, law enforcement cannot ask the immigration status of that individual,” he said.

House Bill 4184 also would require English language proficiency to get a standard driver’s license. Niemerg fired back against any notion that it is racist.

“I don’t see anything racist about that in any way, shape or form for an individual to be able to read a sign, to be able to drive here in the state of Illinois,” Niemerg said.

Illinois’ standard issue driver’s license is not federally recognized as REAL ID and cannot be used to prove citizenship, get on an airplane or enter certain federal buildings.

Two Men Tried to Raise Army of Homeless People to Conquer Haiti, DOJ Claims

Headline USA Editor
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Two Men Tried to Raise Army of Homeless People to Conquer Haiti, DOJ Claims

(Headline USA) Federal prosecutors say two Texas men plotted to take over a Haitian island, one going so far as joining the U.S. military to acquire training for an armed attack, with the goal of killing all the men and using the women and children for sex.

Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, who are from the Dallas area, were indicted Thursday on charges of conspiracy to murder, maim or kidnap in a foreign country, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Texas. They were also charged with production of child pornography over allegations they persuaded a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct.

Attorneys for both men said Friday they will enter not guilty pleas.

“They never tried to do any of this,” said John Helms, who is Thomas’ attorney.

An indictment filed in a Texas federal court accuses the men of planning to recruit the homeless to join their coup in Haiti, buy a sailboat and seize power on Gonave Island, which has about 87,000 residents. It covers roughly 290 square miles square miles and is the largest island surrounding Hispaniola.

The indictment also says others were involved in the supposed plot who haven’t been charged.

Helms said that while he has not yet seen the government’s evidence, he thinks prosecutors “are going to have a real hard time” trying to prove that Weisenburg and Thomas actually intended to carry out such a plot.

David Finn, Weisenburg’s attorney, said he encourages everyone to “tap the breaks” and reserve judgment. He said people have been telling him it is “the craziest thing” they have heard, and his response has been: “Yeah, it is.”

According to the indictment, the two men worked on the plot from August 2024 through July and that preparations included researching weapons and ammunition and plans to buy military-type rifles. Prosecutors also allege that both men tried to learn the Haitian Creole language.

Weisenburg allegedly enrolled in a fire academy around Dallas to receive training that would be useful in the attack but failed out of the school. He then allegedly traveled to Thailand and planned to learn to sail, only to never end up enrolling in lessons because of the cost.

Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in January, according to the indictment, and told Weisenburg in a social media message that he had joined the military to further their planned attack. While in the Air Force, Thomas changed his assignment to Andrews Air Base in Maryland to help in the recruiting of homeless people in Washington, D.C., the indictment said.

The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations was among the investigating agencies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Air Force did not immediately respond to an inquiry about Thomas’ service on Friday.

The men face up to 30 years in prison if convicted on the child pornography charge and up to life in prison if convicted on the conspiracy charge.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

 

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