In today’s newsletter, we look at what “affordability” means in practice, as the Trump administration moves to eliminate a housing mandate it says has driven up costs. We also cover agreements made with pharmaceutical companies aimed at dramatically reducing prescription drug prices. There was a major immigration enforcement operation in New York City and we have the details. Around the world, the confrontation with Iran continues, and trade talks with Canada have stalled. Finally, our news briefs cover Democratic infighting in Michigan, AI’s growing role in fighting wildfires, congressional discipline of a Republican lawmaker and the latest chapter in the Bowe Bergdahl case.
Reading time: 5 minutes
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.** Jeremiah 17:7-8**
Huckabee Post Promotion
Good morning. If you’d like to help pay our staffers so that we can keep bringing you the real stories every American needs to know, you should subscribe to the Paid Substack version. Just click here:
You’ll find subscription plans as low as $3 a month for the full newsletter with exclusive subscriber-only content, no gatekeeper censorship, and no ads.
It’s also more news from us than you currently receive in our free newsletter.
We wouldn’t ask you to switch over to paying for the newsletter if it wasn’t important to keep our newsletter going. We hope you will consider it.
Over the past five weeks, the DHS has been ** engaged in a surge of arrests of illegal alien criminals** in New York City that was dubbed “Operation Rotten Apple.” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that ICE has arrested over 2100 aliens, “including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers, and violent assailants. We removed these public safety threats with ZERO help from Socialist Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul.”
We’ll have a follow-up on this story as soon as we can get some quotes from Democrats about why arresting illegal alien murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers, and violent assailants is a BAD thing.
Biden Open Border Death Tally Update: We’ve written before that as tragic as the stories of illegal aliens killing Americans are, we often get more of them than we have space to cover in a given day. We’d hate to think that people have become jaded to these atrocities because they can lull them into voting those responsible back into power.
So just to show you what we have to deal with every day, ** click here** and
Incidentally, that last story involves illegal alien truck drivers who can’t even speak English getting commercial drivers’ licenses in blue states, then killing Americans by the hundreds. President Trump has been targeting the drivers for arrest, but now, he’s going after the root problem with a historic inter-agency crackdown on fraudulent truck-driving schools. This ** link has more details,** direct from the Department of Transportation, which is finally more concerned with making roads safe than with declaring bridges to be racist.
RELATED: Speaking of stories that keep repeating like reruns on Nickelodeon, Monday brought ** another Medicare fraud story**, this time about an Anaheim, California, woman who pleaded guilty to bilking taxpayers out of over $2 million for hospice claims for people who weren’t really terminally ill.
Democrats keep saying “affordability,” but we don’t think they know what this word means. For instance, in New York City, the socialist mayor and his cronies are promising to make housing more affordable by bringing back the exact same landlord-punishing laws that have resulted in housing shortages and higher rents everywhere they’ve been tried.
If you want more affordable housing, then get rid of government mandates that make it more expensive to provide housing. That doesn’t make for splashy press conferences, but it actually works. And that’s why Trump’s HUD and DOJ are teaming up to ** eliminate an Obama-era policy** that was costing property owners millions by making them responsible for modifications to buildings they didn’t design. More details at the link.
Photo credit: USA Today
In other actual affordability news, President Trump ** announced deals** with nine more pharmaceutical companies to provide their drugs to Americans at most-favored-nation prices. This program has dropped the prices of some of the costliest drugs; for instance, seniors are now getting GLP-1 weight loss drugs for $50 a month. It’s estimated that Trump’s deals could save consumers $600 billion in drug costs over the next decade.
Outgoing Army Secretary Dan Driscoll made his first public comments Tuesday since submitting his resignation. Despite media claims that Driscoll was concerned about military readiness and thought Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was hindering it, Driscoll praised Army soldiers and their families and said, “I had the privilege of working with them to modernize and accelerate how the Army mans, trains, and equips the most lethal fighting force on the face of the earth. We could not have made the progress we did without the support of Secretary Hegseth. I am forever grateful to President Trump for the opportunity to once again serve my country.”
Also on Tuesday, President Trump nominated acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao for the permanent position, calling him a “true warrior.”
There’s still no sign of truce in President Trump’s trade war with Canada, but Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney ** didn’t help by saying**, “When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions.”
The idea of refusing to talk until Americans stop creating mean memes making fun of Canada suggests that there will be no end to this trade war in our lifetimes. We picture Bugs Bunny saying, “Of course you know, this means war.” A meme war, that is. Stephen Kruiser at PJ Media ** examined the issue** and said Carney might as well have hung a “Kick Me” sign on his back.
Prof. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit ** had a similar reaction**, and, of course, included some memes.
In the latest updates on Iran, CENTCOM reports that Iran has been launching retaliatory missile and drone strikes, but most of them have been shot down and there’s no major damage to any US bases. Iran claimed that a US strike hit a private home hosting a wedding, killing five people including a child and wounding 68 others. An Iranian official said, “Make no mistake: these crimes will not go unpunished. Nothing will protect them from the crushing will of Iran’s Armed Forces.” A CENTCOM spokesman said they’re aware of the claim of civilian casualties, that it originated from Iranian state media, and that “The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC.”
** President Trump responded to critics** who think he’s spending too much time trying to get Iran to sign a peace deal, saying on Truth Social, “I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?”
We think we know that answer to that: When they get some guns. If nothing else, this situation should be a strong lesson to Americans about what a tyrannical government can do to an unarmed citizenry.
Trump also said, “I like our position” in this war, and that the US has total control over the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian economy is “totally collapsing.”
1. How To Lose Friends And Infuriate People: Someone ** vandalized Dolly Parton’s star** on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Officials say they are already working on getting the heavy scratches repaired. In the meantime, online suggestions for punishing the culprit included deportation to Mongolia. Mongolia is too nice; we suggest Antarctica.
2. Love To See It: The Democrats ** continue to squabble** amongst themselves over Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign.
3. AI is already helping manage the fight against wildfires, ** its role is growing**.
4. North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards was ** formally censured yesterday** in the House for his conduct towards two of his female staffers. Edwards, a Republican, is not running for re-election.
5. Two steps forward, one step back? ** Lawmakers seek answers** about the changing role of US Airborne brigade. (Hint: see Dan Driscoll story above)
6: Once Again: Bowe Bergdahl is ** a convicted deserter**.
**7. Lucky: You won’t see anything more incredible ** than this on the internet today.
Thank you for reading the Huckabee Post.
