A judge apologized to an assassin & Your insurance went up.

A federal judge apologized to the man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump this week. Apparently being denied a tablet on suicide watch warrants a formal apology from the bench. We'd say more but we're still processing it. Pour another.

On a genuinely sad note — Ted Turner passed away at 87. Love or hate what CNN became, the man built a media empire from pure stubbornness and audacity. That used to be called the American Dream. Rest easy, Mouth of the South.

Oh — and the government just dropped hundreds of classified UFO files this week. Videos. Photographs. Evidence of things they've been hiding for decades. We're not saying it's aliens. We're just saying they picked a very interesting week to tell us. And somewhere between the UFO files and the new r** v**** apparently making the rounds — which we are not ready to talk about, think about, or spell out — we have a suggestion. Did you all see the post from June 2022 predicting exactly this?????

Actually, you know what. Skip the coffee entirely. Just make something neat and give us 10 minutes of your time. Let's talk about the state of our country.

Trump's retribution tour has its first scalps — five Republican state senators in Texas lost their primaries this week for blocking his redistricting map and siding with Democrats. Whether you love the approach or not, the message to anyone thinking about crossing him is crystal clear: the leash is short.

Speaking of people making questionable decisions with other people's money, Kevin O'Leary unloaded on NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's economic proposals this week — offering to count the ways they were stupid, then actually counting them. His point is simple: tax the wealthy out of New York and you don't get equality, you get Detroit.

And if you thought New York had a monopoly on bad ideas, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger refused to rule out taxing gym memberships, digital subscriptions, and dog grooming. Her justification? "Every idea that makes some amount of sense should be discussed." Taxing people for exercising and walking their dog. Totally reasonable. We're sure Virginians will be absolutely delighted.

Private sector jobs came in at 115,000 for April — better than expected, and the strongest ADP number since January 2025. Good news for workers, less good news for anyone hoping the Fed cuts rates anytime soon. Strong jobs plus sticky inflation equals Powell sitting on his hands. Don't hold your breath.

Markets are bracing for turbulence tied to oil prices and geopolitical tension, but the underlying economy remains solid enough that some analysts see a strong rally ahead once rate cuts eventually arrive. In other words: bumpy road, decent destination — maybe.

On a more sinister note, banking scammers are getting bolder. Fraudsters are spoofing bank phone numbers and draining accounts. Chase Bank's advice this week was blunt — if anyone calls, texts, or emails asking you to move money or access your accounts, hang up. Full stop. Don't be polite about it.

And the news that nobody wants to hear: foreclosures just hit their highest level in six years. Nearly 119,000 properties had foreclosure filings in Q1 alone — up 26% from a year ago. Insurance costs and property taxes are quietly squeezing homeowners who survived high mortgage rates, only to get crushed by the bill that came after. The house is paid. The costs around it are not.

McDonald's tried to quietly kill the self-serve soda fountain and the internet revolted. Didn't matter — they beat Wall Street anyway. Sales up 9%, profit up 6%, value meals doing the heavy lifting. Subway meanwhile shuttered another 729 stores. At its peak they had 27,000 locations. They've lost nearly a third of them. The $5 footlong era is becoming a eulogy.

Elizabeth Warren is taking heat after Spirit Airlines collapsed, having cheerled the blocked merger that might have saved it. She called it "a Biden win for flyers." Those flyers are now stranded. Around 127,000 of them are so mad they've pledged $90 million to nationalize the airline — which started as a joke and somehow hasn't stopped. We give it 0% chance of working and 100% chance of making whoever started it very internet-famous.

Coinbase laid off 14% of staff but did something rare — the CEO was honest, transparent, and genuinely generous about it. Sixteen weeks base pay, two weeks per year worked, six months of health coverage. That's how you do a layoff with dignity. PayPal is reportedly eyeing cuts of up to 20% under new leadership. We'll see if they took notes.

GameStop — yes, that GameStop — has reportedly made a $56 billion takeover bid for eBay with eyes on rivaling Amazon. We have questions. Meanwhile Dell has ditched Delaware for Texas, becoming the latest name to head south for "obvious reasons." The exodus continues. Someone should probably tell Delaware.

Last Week:

We asked. You answered. And apparently Red State Finance readers are a surprisingly level-headed bunch — 65% of you voted that the White House Correspondents' Dinner controversy was nothing suspicious and people should put the tinfoil hats away. No conspiracy. No plot. Just people with overactive imaginations and too much Twitter.

Interesting. Very interesting.

This Week

We want to know the truth — not the spin, not the White House press briefing version, the actual reality of life in America.

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EV Owners:
While the rest of us are wincing at the pump, EV drivers are quietly smug and frankly they've earned it. Gas prices are painful. Annoying but fair.

iPhone Users:
Apple just settled a class action lawsuit after allegedly marketing Siri AI features that didn't exist, don't exist now, and won't exist for another two years. In other words, they sold you a sci-fi movie and delivered a flip phone. If you bought an iPhone based on those promises, check your inbox — there may be a check with your name on it. Small. But still.

Ask Jeeves:
After nearly 30 years, Ask.com has officially shut down its search business. A moment of silence for the butler who never quite made it. You Googled right past him and never looked back. He deserved better. Probably.

Trumps Tariffs (Again):
A federal trade court struck down Trump's global 10% tariffs this week in a 2-1 decision, siding with 24 states and a handful of businesses who sued in March. This is the second time the courts have knocked back Trump's tariff agenda — the Supreme Court already killed the original "Liberation Day" tariffs. The administration replaced those with new ones. The courts just killed those too.

We don't do political endorsements. But we do recognize a great piece of political theater when we see one.

Spencer Pratt — yes, that Spencer Pratt — is running for Mayor of Los Angeles and apparently nobody told him he was supposed to lose quietly. After a debate this week where 79% of viewers declared him the winner, dismantling incumbent Karen Bass's record and calling opponent Nithya Raman "a random city councilmember" to her face, his campaign ads are going viral for all the right reasons.

Love him or hate him, the man came to fight. Watch the ad below and tell us this isn't must-see TV.

A New York Fed study confirmed what most people already knew in their gut — when gas prices spike, lower-income households cut back on driving while higher-income households barely notice. Families earning under $40,000 cut consumption by 7%. Families earning over $125,000 cut consumption by 1%. The Fed has a fancy term for it: "K-shaped consumption pattern." Normal people call it "being broke."

Translation: Rich people filled up their tanks. Everyone else did the math and drove less.

After NYC's new mayor singled out Griffin's Manhattan penthouse in a tax video — which Griffin called "creepy and weird" — the Citadel CEO used the Milken Institute conference to twist the knife. Miami was the right call, New York doesn't welcome success, and his New York partners have been personally urged to follow him south. When billionaires start telling their friends to leave, the city should probably listen.

Translation: New York keeps poking its wealth creators with a stick and then acting surprised when they leave.

South Carolina is growing faster than any other state in America on a percentage basis — 59,000 new residents in a single year. Meanwhile New York lost 160,000 people and California lost 200,000. Low taxes, low cost of living, and nobody trying to charge you for walking your dog.

Translation: People vote with their feet, and right now they're all pointing South.

Thirty people charged, nineteen arrested, a decade of insider trading, attorneys selling confidential merger secrets for kickbacks, and two suspects already fled to Russia and Israel. The alleged ringleader? A California lawyer who apparently forgot that obstruction of justice charges exist.

Translation: The guys who write the rules spent ten years breaking them — and got very rich doing it.

A 63-year-old man operating under three different names convinced a Mexican billionaire to hand over $450 million by pretending to represent one of America's most famous 19th century families. The billionaire's own verdict on himself? "I feel like an absolute idiot."

Translation: If someone named after a dead dynasty offers you a loan, maybe Google them first.

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A Chicago alderman is demanding criminal charges against Walgreens for closing a store that was being robbed into the ground. No mention of charging the people doing the robbing. Apparently leaving a crime scene is the crime.

Translation: The store got robbed into closure, so naturally the store is the criminal.

On flights under 350 miles, Delta is scrapping all snacks and drinks for regular passengers effective May 19th. First class? Full service, naturally. The rest of you can survive 45 minutes without a ginger ale.

Translation: You're paying more for your ticket and getting less on your tray table. Enjoy the legroom you also don't have.

Scammers sent fake court summons texts to hundreds of Colorado residents, complete with official-looking documents and QR codes designed to steal credit card information. Over 200 people showed up to a Denver courthouse at 9am on a Friday morning — stressed, confused, and completely innocent. The QR code, had they scanned it, would have handed scammers their financial life.

Translation: The scam was so convincing it got 200 people out of bed early on a Friday. Respect the hustle, report the number.

52% of Americans oppose data centers near their communities. Electricity bills are up, property values are down, and Big Tech keeps building. But Mike Rowe dropped an inconvenient truth this week — young electricians working these sites in Texas are pulling $260,000 a year, no college degree, no student debt, and getting poached three times in 18 months like they're NFL free agents.

Translation: Everyone hates data centers until their kid becomes an electrician.

The State Department is revoking passports from Americans who owe child support, starting with those owing $100,000 or more — about 2,700 people. But it's about to get much broader. A barely-enforced 1996 law sets the legal threshold at just $2,500, and officials say the expansion is coming. Nobody knows exactly how many people that covers yet because the government is still counting.

Translation: The government can't fix a pothole in under three years, but it will absolutely find you at the airport gate.

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Let's talk about the quiet financial suffocation that every working American feels but nobody in power seems particularly bothered about.

You wake up every morning, go to work, and hand over a chunk of your paycheck before you've bought a single thing. Federal income tax. State income tax. Social Security tax. Medicare tax. Property tax. Sales tax. Capital gains tax. Fuel tax. Sin tax. Toll tax. Phone tax. Utility tax. The average American works until late April just to start keeping their own money. We call it Tax Freedom Day and somehow we've normalized it.

But the taxes aren't even the part that should make your blood boil the most. It's the insurance.

Home insurance premiums have jumped 30 to 50 percent in two years. Houses today are built with better materials, better fire resistance, better safety codes than any point in history. We can predict hurricanes a week out. And yet your premium goes up every single year.

Car insurance is the same story. Modern vehicles have automatic braking, collision detection, blind spot monitoring. Cars are statistically the safest they have ever been. And yet your premium went up again. Health insurance costs more every year for higher deductibles and a claims process specifically designed to make you give up.

The original promise of insurance was noble. We pool our resources so that when disaster strikes one of us, none of us face it alone. That's not what this is anymore. This is an industry that has captured regulators, automated denials, and turned a safety net into a profit extraction machine. You are paying more than ever for a promise worth less than ever.

Modern America didn't build insurance to work like this. It built it so hardworking people could take risks, build lives, and know that if the worst happened, they wouldn't lose everything. Somewhere between then and now that contract got rewritten. And nobody asked your permission.

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