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Sixteen million dollars. That is what the government spent to repaint a pool… and the company that got the job works on the president’s swimming pool at his golf club in Virginia. Atlantic Industrial Coatings won a no-bid contract to repaint and seal the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The cost rose from $6.9 million to $14.7 million. The company had never done a federal job. Its profit margin was 20%… double the normal rate. Trump said in April he picked them because they worked on pools at his golf club. The Interior Department skipped the bidding process… because the president wanted it done by July 4. Two weeks later, the water turned green. Algae covered the pool. Workers poured hydrogen peroxide into the water. The new coating peeled off the bottom. Trump had said it would “last 50 to 100 years.” A second no-bid deal went to Green Water Solutions of Ohio for $1.7 million. The owner, John J. Cafaro, has given to Trump’s campaigns since 2016. He pleaded guilty to bribing a congressman in 2001. He pleaded guilty again in 2010… to campaign finance crimes. His COO told CNN they had never used their algae system on a pool before. On Sunday, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the same company will do the repairs. “We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” he said. He would not say what it would cost. Meanwhile, Olympic canoeist David Hearn was charged with a felony for touching the pool’s liner… which had already come loose on its own. The coating is peeling. The man who touched it faces prison. The men who botched the job are getting paid again. |
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BREAKING Trump Called FIFA to Reverse a World Cup Red Card — the First Time That’s Happened Since 1962 |
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The president of the United States called the president of FIFA to get a soccer player’s red card thrown out. FIFA threw it out. It was the first time since 1962 that a red card at a World Cup did not lead to a suspension. U.S. striker Folarin Balogun was sent off during a match against Bosnia on July 1. Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino and asked for the ban to be reviewed. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Andrew Giuliani… who runs the White House World Cup Task Force… brought in Trump-aligned lawyers to push FIFA. A U.S. official said the government sent “additional evidence” that FIFA used to justify the reversal. Belgium was “astonished.” UEFA condemned the call. Belgium’s coach compared it to April Fools’ Day. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter… himself once charged with fraud… said football “must never become a playground for political power.” Trump’s 2025 financial filing shows Infantino gave him 10 tickets worth $15,000 to last year’s FIFA Club World Cup. FIFA gave Trump its first-ever “peace prize” in December. Balogun played Monday night. The U.S. lost 4–1. All three host nations are now out of their own World Cup. The president spent the weight of the Oval Office to get one player on the field… and it did not matter. |
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EXPOSED The ATF’s Own Analysis Said the Gun Rollback Could Cause “Mass Casualty Events.” They Published It Anyway. |
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The government’s firearms agency warned… in its own cost study… that the rules it was about to drop could lead to “potential mass casualty events.” Then it dropped them anyway. On July 5, the ATF rolled out the biggest rewrite of federal gun policy in its history. The package has 34 rule changes. The zero-tolerance policy for gun dealers who broke the law… gone. It had led to 600 license pulls. Now the feds must prove a dealer “knowingly” broke the law. The rule that made more gun show sellers run background checks… narrowed. Brace rules… eased. And the plan would let some people barred from buying guns for mental health reasons buy them again. That same week, the Justice Department sued California and Virginia over their state gun laws. The suits came from the Civil Rights Division… the same office that once enforced voting rights and desegregated schools. It now enforces gun rights. The Brady Campaign said the approach “takes us back 100 years.” The gun lobby praised it for “clarity.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called it a “careful balance.” The ATF’s own files told a different story. The agency studied what would happen if these rules went away. It said the result could be mass death. The administration read the warning… and signed the order. |
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DEVELOPING China Just Fired a Nuclear-Capable Missile from a Submarine into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone |
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On Monday, a Chinese submarine launched a nuclear-capable missile with a dummy warhead into the South Pacific Ocean. It flew over the waters of four island nations… Micronesia, Nauru, Kiribati, and Tuvalu… and landed in waters protected by the Treaty of Rarotonga. China signed that treaty in 1987. It bans nuclear testing in the South Pacific. New Zealand, Australia, and Japan got just hours of warning. New Zealand called it “unwelcome.” Australia called it “destabilizing.” Japan raised “grave concerns.” The U.S. said it tracked the launch but has not pushed back on China’s claim that the test was “routine.” China now runs six ballistic-missile subs and 59 nuclear attack subs. Its nuclear arsenal is growing faster than any other country’s. The Pentagon’s own report says Beijing views these tests as tools for “medium-to-high intensity nuclear deterrence.” This was only the second time China has fired a long-range missile into the open Pacific since 1980. The same day, Australia and Fiji signed a new defense treaty to counter Chinese power in the Pacific. The timing was not a coincidence. While Washington stays locked on the Middle East and its own World Cup drama… Beijing tested its ability to strike from beneath the ocean at range. The U.S. has not filed a formal protest. Beijing told critics to “avoid overinterpretation.” Overinterpretation… of a nuclear-capable missile fired into a nuclear-free zone. |
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They rely on the shadows. |