The Barrington Report Replays

The Barrington Report Replays

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This is the Barrington Report Replay! Replays of the live show that occur every Thursday at 7pm Eastern. The only show where you hear the news that isn't news, unique perspectives that will never be said on mainstream media and the total, absolute, truth! barrington.substack.com

5h ago

TBR 2K25 Episode 68: Section 219: A One Sided Relationship

🎧 THIS WEEK’S EPISODE This edition is not a rerun of the show. It is the receipts folder: every load-bearing claim from Thursday night, linked to its primary source, with both vote margins, the roll call, the phone numbers, and the exact words from George Washington that closed the hour. Read it alongside the episode, or instead of it. Either way, check me. That is the entire point of publishing it. 🔥 SEGMENT ONE: SECTION 219, VERIFIED Episode 14:12 to 23:20 What the Provision Actually Does, What It Does Not Do, and the Vote They Would Not Allow. On Wednesday, July 22, the House passed H.R. 8800, the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act, authorizing $1.15 trillion, the largest military authorization in American history, by a vote of 216 to 212. All but seven Republicans voted yes. All but six Democrats voted no. The Democrats who crossed over: Cuellar of Texas, Davis of North Carolina, Golden of Maine, Gonzalez of Texas, Gray of California, and Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington. Independent Kevin Kiley of California also voted yes. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the highest-profile Republican no. What Section 219 does: it establishes a permanent initiative for U.S.-Israel defense technology cooperation covering joint research, technology development, testing, information sharing, and industrial cooperation, with roughly $750 million across the bill’s U.S.-Israel joint project provisions. The Senate’s companion is Section 1217, carrying the FUTURES Act, which would create essentially the same initiative. What the text does not do, stated plainly because precision is the weapon here: it does not merge the two countries’ armed forces, and it does not place American troops under foreign command. A claim circulated this week that it merges the two countries’ intelligence services; that specific claim is reported as false. This newsletter will not repeat something the text does not say, because what the text actually does is serious enough without embellishment. What a permanent framework becomes over ten or twenty years is a separate and legitimate question, and it is the reason a provision like this belongs in daylight rather than inside a rider. The overstated version dies on first contact with the bill. The accurate version is worse for them. So we prosecute the accurate version. The first prosecution point, and the biggest: they would not allow a vote on it. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) filed a bipartisan amendment to strip Section 219 from the bill. The House Rules Committee wrote the rules of debate to exclude it, and the rule passed 214 to 211 on Tuesday, July 21. Three votes. Members who wanted the section removed were left with exactly one option: vote against the entire trillion-dollar defense bill, troop pay and all, or swallow the provision whole. That is the trap, and it is deliberate. It also produces the attack ad, where a member who objected to one buried section gets accused of voting against the troops. The second point: listen to who is objecting. Massie warned the measure could compromise American sovereignty and national security. In the Senate, Bernie Sanders argues Congress should not grant Israel greater military integration than a NATO ally by tucking it inside the annual defense bill; Sens. Van Hollen, Warren, Markey, Merkley, and Welch joined him. When a Kentucky Republican and a Vermont socialist stand on the same square inch of ground, that ground is not left or right. That ground is the Constitution. The third point is structural, and it is why this newsletter exists. Permanent commitments to foreign powers are supposed to be treaties. Article II, Section 2 requires two-thirds of the Senate to ratify one, in the open, on the record. That supermajority is not a technicality; it is the protection, because it means no narrow faction can bind your grandchildren. What happened Wednesday was a permanent initiative created by a four-vote margin, inside a must-pass bill about pay raises and submarines, after the one clean vote on it was blocked by three. Not a treaty. Not two-thirds. Not daylight. A rider. And the equal accountability, because this desk does not run one direction. House Republicans voted for this almost to a member. House Democrats do not get a halo: six crossed over to pass it, exactly one week after nearly half their caucus voted to cut off aid entirely, with their leader voting one way and their whip voting the other. That is not a party with a principle. That is a party with a poll. Both operations run the same play from opposite sides: let the base shout about the thing, then let the machinery deliver the opposite. And note the tell that ties the month together. The same people who spent primetime last week warning about a foreign country touching American elections voted the next week to permanently fuse American weapons research to a foreign government without a treaty. You cannot claim to fear foreign influence on Tuesday and vote to institutionalize it on Wednesday. WHAT TO DO: The bill now goes to the Senate, which carries its own version in Section 1217. Call both Georgia senators and ask one question: will you support a standalone, recorded vote on Section 219 and Section 1217, separate from the defense bill? Ossoff: (202) 224-3521. Warnock: (202) 224-3643. You are not asking them how to vote on the merits. You are asking whether the Senate will do in daylight what the House refused to do at all. Then pull the House roll call yourself at congress.gov and find your own representative on BOTH votes, the rule vote on July 21 and final passage on July 22. Those are two different votes, and the first one is the one they hope nobody looks up. BARRINGTON’S VERDICT: A permanent defense technology partnership with a foreign government, passed by four votes inside the largest military bill in American history, after leadership blocked a bipartisan amendment from ever reaching the floor. A Kentucky Republican calls it a sovereignty threat. A Vermont socialist calls it more integration than a NATO ally gets. This is the hostage-and-rider method this newsletter has tracked since June, now carrying its heaviest cargo. Whatever is good enough to bind us permanently is good enough to be voted on by itself. 🗣️ ON THE RECORD: WHERE THIS DESK STANDS Episode 06:29 to 09:00 and 21:37 to 23:20 Because the host stated a position on air and this publication does not hide behind its own reporting, here it is in print, plainly, as the host’s stated position. First, the framework: there is no such thing as friendship between governments. There are only interests. Nations do not have friends; they have overlapping objectives that last exactly as long as the overlap does. So when any official calls any country our greatest ally, the correct citizen response is not applause. It is a question: whose interest does this specific arrangement serve, and is any measurable part of it mine? Second, the position: this host is anti-Zionist and opposes the policies of the Israeli government, while drawing a distinction he considers essential, between a state and its people. He regards the United States relationship with Israel as substantially one-sided, argues that American military engagements in the region have served Israeli strategic interests more reliably than American ones, and regards the conduct of the war in Gaza as an atrocity that American officials have largely declined to confront. That is a political position about a foreign government and its policies. It is held by a considerable number of Americans, it is argued in Israel itself by Israelis, and it is entirely legitimate political speech. It is also not a claim about Jewish people, who are not a foreign government and are not answerable for one. Third, and this is the part that matters for the argument in this issue: the Section 219 case does not rest on any of that, and it must not be allowed to. The constitutional objection is that permanent foreign commitments require treaties and two-thirds of the Senate in the open, and that this one was created by a rider, a rules committee, and a four-vote margin. That objection would appear in this newsletter word for word if the section named Britain, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, or France. Anyone who agrees with the host about Israel and anyone who disagrees with him entirely should still want that vote taken in daylight, because the method established this week is now available to any faction, on behalf of any country, permanently. You can disagree with every word of this desk’s opinion on Israel and still demand a standalone vote. That is the point. The method outlives the argument. 🏘️ SEGMENT TWO: THE PRESIDENT IN A COBB COUNTY GYM Episode 23:24 to 28:56 Trump Accounts, a Campaign Stage, and a Public School. The Idea Deserves a Fair Hearing. The Venue Deserves an Argument. On Wednesday the President made the first public school visit of his term at Wheeler High School in Marietta, about a week before classes resume, to promote Trump Accounts: a $1,000 federal deposit into an investment account for every baby born during his term. His pitch was that Washington politicians spent decades handing children nothing but debt. Georgia’s Republican candidate for governor pledged from that stage that the state would match the federal $1,000. The Treasury Secretary warmed up the crowd, Braves executives spoke, and hundreds of protesters stood across the street in July heat. The fair hearing first, because this desk does not sneer at ideas based on whose name is attached to them. Seeded accounts at birth are not a gimmick. Versions of the idea, often called baby bonds, have been argued across the political spectrum for years, precisely because America’s wealth gap is largely a head-start gap. A thousand dollars invested at birth and left alone for eighteen years becomes real money, and for a household with no brokerage account
Jul 10

TBR 2K25 Episode 67: "Of Minor Importance"

The episode in one sentence: The hostage pattern became a method in seven days. Last week the President held the most powerful surveillance authority in the country hostage to his voting bill. This week it was the biggest housing bill in thirty years, which he called, in his own words, of minor importance. But the founders built a clock his ego cannot stop, and the bill becomes law without him. Last week the hostage was your privacy. This week it is your rent. Same ransom note, different victim. COLD OPEN 00:00 to 01:42 The seven-day receipt. Last week’s warning, that a man who holds one thing hostage to get his way will hold the next thing hostage too, came true in exactly seven days. The housing bill, canceled about an hour before the signing ceremony, held to the same voting bill as the surveillance authority. The phrase of the episode is introduced: of minor importance. Your rent. Your mortgage. In the middle of an affordability crisis. We live in that phrase for the whole hour. SHOW OPEN 01:42 to 04:00 Housekeeping: there was no broadcast last week, but the newsletter went out and went hard, and a new newsletter follows this broadcast. Today catches everyone all the way up. The roadmap: four segments, same standard for everybody. The housing hostage and the one piece of good news hiding inside it. The Republican senator who stood up to the President’s face and got told to sit down. What this housing bill actually does for Atlanta specifically, because we are ground zero for the exact problem it targets. And why a record number of Americans now believe the founders would be ashamed of us, plus the one thing that went right this week that almost nobody noticed. SEGMENT 1: THE HOSTAGE IS YOUR RENT NOW 04:00 to 11:50 The size of what he canceled. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act is the biggest housing affordability bill Congress has passed since 1990. It passed the House 358 to 32 and the Senate 85 to 5. Veto proof, blowout, both parties holding hands numbers. It loosens the rules to build more housing, makes manufactured homes cheaper to build, and caps how many single-family houses Wall Street firms are allowed to buy up. The cancellation. His own Republicans had the room set up and the cameras ready. He posted on Truth Social that the signing is hereby canceled until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, which he called a national emergency. The seven-day receipt. Seven days after this show documented the surveillance authority being held hostage to that same voting bill, the identical move landed on housing. Same voting bill. Same hostage move. Different victim. The hostage pattern is not a pattern anymore. It is a method. The open question is what gets taken next. “Of minor importance.” Asked about the bill, the President called it of minor importance and said it pales in comparison to the voting bill. That is the most honest thing he said all week, because it tells you exactly where your rent ranks on his list: below a voting bill that cannot even pass. The good news. The bill becomes law anyway, with or without his signature. The Constitution gives a President ten days, while Congress is in session, to sign or veto a bill; otherwise it becomes law on its own. And because this bill passed with veto-proof majorities, even a real veto could be overridden. His tantrum is theater. The relief is coming. The relief survives because enough people voted for it to make his ego irrelevant. That is what a veto-proof majority is. The catch to watch. The ten-day clock does not start until the Speaker of the House formally transmits the bill to the White House, and Speaker Johnson had not yet done so at airtime. Republican leadership can stall the clock and let the hostage show run longer. That is a choice. Watch who makes it. The standing doctrine. Do not rely on the ballot box alone to deliver you. This bill survives because of constitutional mechanics, not because anyone in power was noble. See these people as representatives, not leaders; that word has been overstated. And understand why a bipartisan bill moved at all: people are hurting, midterms are coming, and the people in Congress would like to keep their jobs. The hostage pattern is not a pattern anymore. It is a method. Last week your privacy. This week your rent. Watch what is next. SEGMENT 2: HE STOOD UP. THE PRESIDENT TOLD HIM TO SIT DOWN. 11:54 to 18:58 The lunch. After canceling the housing signing, the President went into a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans and it turned into a shouting match. At the center: Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who lost his primary last month to a challenger the President endorsed against him. His career is ending. He has nothing left to lose and nothing left to fear. What Cassidy demanded. Answers on the Iran war. In his words: the war was supposed to last four weeks, it has lasted four months, our original objectives have not been achieved, and I want to know what is going on. The President raised his voice, threw the primary loss in his face in front of the room, and told him to sit down. Cassidy afterward: I make no apologies for standing up to the President. The fair read. Cassidy is not a hero of this show. A burst of honesty at the very end of a career is not the same as a career of honesty. He found his voice because he no longer has anything to protect. Credit the truth. Notice the timing. The real question. Not why Cassidy spoke. Why he was the only one. Every other Republican in that lunch still has a primary to worry about and a career to protect, and a President who will endorse a challenger against anyone who crosses him. When honesty carries a career death note, you learn what kind of government you actually have. The pattern. The short list of Republicans willing to defy the President right now: Cassidy and Cornyn, louder since losing primaries. McConnell and Tillis, leaving the Senate, beyond the reach of revenge. Murkowski, who refused to kill the filibuster. The only ones who can afford to say no are the ones who no longer need anything from him. That is not a Senate checking a President. That is a Senate where the check only comes from the people already walking out the door. The system point. This is not a pick-better-people problem. The structure itself corrupts whoever enters it, in both parties. The people you select are protecting their jobs, not representing you, and no single election fixes an incentive machine built that way. The story is not the one man who spoke. It is the silence of everyone who did not. SEGMENT 3: “MINOR” HAS ATLANTA’S NAME ON IT 19:02 to 24:05 Ground zero. Metro Atlanta is the number one target in America for Wall Street home-buying. Not one of the targets. The target. Per an analysis by Parcl Labs, 13.3 percent of every institutionally owned home in the entire United States is in metro Atlanta, more than double any other metro. The Georgia State receipts. Researchers at Georgia State University have documented more than 70,000 properties bought up by big companies across metro Atlanta in 15 years. Wall Street firms now own roughly 30 percent of the region’s single-family rentals, about ten times the national rate. More than 300 census tracts where these companies own over half the single-family rental market. One DeKalb County ZIP code where institutional firms own 13 percent of all single-family houses, nearly 18 times the national rate. Nearly 4,000 corporate rentals in Paulding County alone. What it does to you. When a corporation owns half the rentable houses on your street, it does not just raise your rent. It removes your path to ever owning the house you live in, because every time one goes up for sale, a firm with all cash and no conditions outbids you before you finish reading the listing. The damage, priced. A report released in April found corporate investors have cost Georgia families an estimated 5 billion dollars in lost home equity, with Black homebuyers carrying 3.5 billion of that loss. That is wealth that never got built. The down payment that never happened. The equity that never compounded. A generational head start bought out from under an entire region by firms headquartered somewhere else. The tie to the top. The cap inside the hostaged bill, limiting how many single-family homes these firms can keep buying, is the work of Georgia’s own Senator Raphael Warnock. It passed the Senate 89 to 10. It is the first federal tool ever built to fight exactly this. So when the President calls the bill of minor importance, hear what he is calling minor. He is calling your block minor. He is calling that 5 billion dollars minor. It is not minor here. It has Atlanta’s name on it. The action call. Do not wait for the ballot box. Call your senators. Call your representative. Show up to the meetings. Corporate ownership of housing needs legislation, and pressure is how legislation moves. He called it minor. In Atlanta, the bill he sidelined is the first federal answer to the thing that has cost Black homebuyers here three and a half billion dollars in lost equity. SEGMENT 4: THE FOUNDERS, AND THE ONE THING THAT WENT RIGHT 24:05 to 29:35 The number. Gallup: 77 percent of Americans now say the men who signed the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed in the country we have built. The highest level of disappointment Gallup has ever recorded. Only 19 percent say the founders would be pleased. The youngest Americans are the least hopeful of all. The mythos riff. Taking the founding story as taught, for the sake of the argument, at full value: the founders fought a war over a roughly two percent tea tax, and today a third or more of your income is taxed while a docile people does nothing about it. If the story is true as told, they have every right in the world to be disgusted with us. The two-week data pair. Put 77 percent next to last week’s number: faith in the American Dream among young adults fell from 50 percent to
Jul 10

TBR 2K25 Episode 68: Consent of the Governed

The episode in one sentence: The Supreme Court closed its term, and read as a scoreboard, the only winner was the Court itself; the host breaks from every celebration you heard this week to side with Justice Thomas’s dissent on birthright citizenship; and on the eve of the 250th, the verdict on all of it: the founders would be disgusted at the men who took the power, and heartbroken at a people who forgot they ever had it. The founders will be disgusted at the men who took it. But they will be heartbroken at a people who forgot they ever had it. Do not be that people. 250 years in, pick the gift back up. COLD OPEN 00:00 to 04:25 Y’all are not paying attention. The warning that opens the hour: much of alternative media, the podcasts and shows people trust as an escape from legacy media, has become an arm of it. Same opinions, same framing, no new information. If you cannot tell the truth from the lie, you will not notice that the different point of view you think you found is the same point of view in a different studio. The announcement. The Supreme Court closed its term, everyone is celebrating the birthright citizenship ruling, and the host read all 91 pages of Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent and agrees with it. That segment is coming, and nobody else on radio, podcast, or television is going to tell you the truth about it. The viewpoint police. Before the show starts, a grievance that has to be aired: when you are Black in America, everyone, whatever their own race or party, assumes you must hold a prescribed set of political opinions, and men like Justice Thomas and Thomas Sowell catch endless flack for thinking for themselves. In a country that calls itself free, the expectation that your skin assigns your opinions is a hypocrisy this show refuses. The 250th setup. Saturday the country turns 250. The close of the show will argue the signers of the Declaration would be disgusted at what we have done with their baby. Standing house rule, stated up front: much of the founding story as taught is mythos, and this show has said so before. For the final segment, we argue from inside the story, taking it as 100 percent true, and see where it leads. SHOW OPEN 04:46 to 09:10 You are watching a master at work. Housekeeping: apologies, last week’s episode and newsletter did not get uploaded on schedule; both go up tonight along with this episode. Happy early Fourth of July, and not just any Fourth: the 250th anniversary of the founding. One receipt before we start. Two weeks ago this show told you the President was holding the biggest housing bill in 30 years hostage and that the guardrail would hold: the bill would become law without him. The Speaker sent it to his desk June 29 and the clock is running; it becomes law on or around July 10 whether he signs or not. He has since downgraded the bill from of minor importance to, quote, a yawn, while conceding his voting bill probably will not pass anyway. Called it. The roadmap: six segments. The Supreme Court term read as a power grab. Birthright citizenship in its own spotlight, and why the Thomas dissent is right. The girls’ sports ruling and the one fact both sides are hiding. The Memphis school takeover blocked, closing a loop from the spring. The Gold Dome tax fight pitting Georgia homeowners against renters. Sony quietly ending your right to own the games you buy. And the close: 250 years, and what the founders would think. SEGMENT 1: THE TERM AS A SCOREBOARD 09:14 to 15:03 Read it like nobody on cable will. Not case by case. As a scoreboard: who walked away with more power, who walked away with less. One pattern runs through almost every major decision, and it is not left versus right. It is which branch got stronger. What Congress can no longer do. After this term, Congress cannot protect independent regulators like the FTC from the President. It cannot limit how much political parties coordinate spending. It cannot require states to draw voting districts that protect Black and Latino voters. And it could not stop the President from withholding 4 billion dollars Congress had already voted to spend, the power of the purse, the oldest power the legislature has. A position stated plainly. On the districting ruling, the host breaks from most of his contemporaries in media: no objection here. If we are all equal under the law, districts should not be drawn by race in the first place. The whining about that ruling is a tribal reflex, not an argument. The tell. The same day the Court said the President has total control over the executive branch, no exceptions, in order to gut the FTC, it carved out an exception to that exact rule to protect the Federal Reserve. The same day. That is not principle. That is power management. The other side of the ledger. The President did not win everything, and this is not an anti-Trump reading. Chief Justice Roberts personally wrote all three major rulings against him this term: tariffs blocked, the Fed governor protected, and the birthright citizenship order struck down. A rubber stamp does not hand a President three losses written by the Chief Justice himself. This Court does not serve Trump. This Court serves itself, and serving itself means telling even him no. The kitchen-table meaning. Every year, the branch you have the most power over, Congress, the people you can actually vote out, gets weaker, while the two branches you have the least power over get stronger. When power drains from the branch you control into the branches you do not, your vote buys less than it did the year before. And a standing reminder from this show: your power was never limited to voting anyway. That subject gets its own episode soon. Power is moving from the branch you can vote out to the branches you cannot. That is not an accident. That is a transfer of power away from you, in plain sight, dressed up in robes. Verdict. This term had one winner: the Court itself. Congress lost the power to protect regulators, limit party money, defend minority voters, and guard its own purse. The President mostly gained but lost on tariffs, the Fed, and birthright, which proves the Court answers to no one but itself. No one is coming to save you. When you cast your ballot in November, do it with clear eyes about what that ballot can and cannot buy. SEGMENT 2: BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: WHY I AM WITH THE DISSENT 15:03 to 28:03 The ruling. On Tuesday, June 30, in Trump v. Barbara, the Supreme Court struck down the President’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of parents here unlawfully or temporarily. Chief Justice Roberts closed the majority with, quote, we keep that promise today, and every network played it as the feel-good moment of the term. And then the host does what you will not hear anywhere else: I read all 91 pages of the dissent, and I agree with it. The receipts, clinical. The Citizenship Clause was written in 1868 to overturn Dred Scott and guarantee citizenship could never again be denied by race. That is its origin, that is settled. Now to what is live: the headline said 6 to 3, but Justice Kavanaugh agreed only because of a statute from the 1950s. On the constitutional question, the vote was 5 to 4, and Kavanaugh wrote in black and white that Congress could pass a new law creating exceptions tomorrow. The President read that roadmap and posted the same day that Congress should start, his word, today. This fight is one vote and one statute wide. Douglass versus Douglass. The part nobody on cable, podcast, or radio will touch: the two Black justices came down on opposite sides, and both reached for the same man, Frederick Douglass. Justice Thomas, dissenting, quotes Douglass claiming citizenship for the freedmen, quote, not as aliens nor as exiles, but as Americans: citizenship was never about the dirt you happened to be born on, it was about belonging, because America was the freedmen’s only home, their only allegiance, the country they had fought for and would fight for again. Justice Jackson answers that the men who wrote the amendment took that sacrifice and deliberately chose universal words, a clean slate for every child born here, no questions asked. Two justices. One legacy. Two answers to what makes somebody a member of this country, and it is the most current-events question in America. Thomas says citizenship is belonging. Jackson says it is birth. Five justices took birth. I am with belonging. The break, plain. Thomas argues the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed citizenship to people born and domiciled here. Domicile. Home. Not a tourist visit, not a border sprint timed to a due date. Home. Citizens, he writes, were the permanent members of the body politic, the people whose roots are in a place and who would go to war for it. And that is not an immigration argument. It is what this show has argued for years: a country is not a location. A country is a people, with shared values, shared standards, and a shared understanding of what belonging requires. The melting pot, and standards. The problem with the modern melting pot talk is that we stopped asking anyone to melt. No shared system of values, no expectation of assimilation, customs imported wholesale with no terms of engagement. Some ways of living produce better outcomes than others; some cultures are better than others, and it is time to stop pretending otherwise. Other countries enforce their standards and we accept it when we visit them. Thomas Sowell built a career proving the point, and the test is outcomes, not ancestry, and it cuts in every direction, including inward at our own house. A nation that hands out membership without asking for belonging has stopped believing in its people. The politicians, not the immigrants. Do not let anyone tell you the border piece is about hating immigrants; the prosecution on this show aims at the politicians. Illegal immigration at this scale is championed by people whose bottom line it serves: the donor cla
Jun 12

TBR 2K25 Episode 66: The Machine Is Never on the Ballot

🌟 Episode Overview Barrington opens with the verdict in the Karmelo Anthony trial and a warning about the racial grift machine that monetized a dead teenager and a convicted one before a single witness was heard. From there, the episode delivers three stories the political class is counting on you to feel but never see: inflation hitting a three-year high of 4.2% while the president says he loves it, the most powerful surveillance authority in American history going dark over a patronage fight instead of a privacy debate, and the AI data center buildout arriving on your power bill while Congress performs concern it has no intention of acting on. The show closes with proof of concept out of Philadelphia, where parents and students saved 340 school jobs by doing exactly what this show has prescribed all year: showing up. The thesis remains unchanged. The system is not broken; it is working exactly as it was built to work, and the only real veto left is local. 🎹 Key Highlights ⚖️ The Verdict and the Vultures A Collin County jury found 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony guilty of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, and Barrington refuses to let either side off the hook. One faction crowned a defendant a civil rights symbol and raised money in his name; the other made him a stand-in for every fear they sell at a profit. “Race was the weapon. Money and attention were the target.” Two families are destroyed, and the only trial that matters now is the one at your kitchen table. 📈 4.2% Is Not a Number, It Is the Policy Inflation hit a three-year high in May, driven by the same Iran war and the same energy shock, and the president responded with “I love the inflation.” Barrington plays the clarification straight, then cuts through it: whether he loves it, tolerates it, or misspoke about it, you are the one paying for it. His own stated position is that your financial pain will not interfere with his war objective. That is not a gaffe. That is the policy. 👴 Grandmama Is Filling Out Applications AARP data shows 7% of retired Americans over 50 are returning to work, in the survey’s own words, out of economic necessity. Paired with the savings rate collapsing to 2.6%, this is the next domino, and it is a family structure story. When grandparents go back to work, the free childcare, the school pickups, and the cushion under the adult children disappear with them. The squeeze does not hit one generation; it compounds through all of them. 🕵️ Section 702 Goes Dark and Nobody Is Debating Your Privacy The government’s most powerful surveillance authority expires Friday, and the fight in Washington is not about reform. Democrats are holding renewal hostage over the acting Director of National Intelligence; the Speaker is citing the World Cup as a reason to keep the machine running. Both parties accept the machinery. They are only fighting over who holds the keys. “You’re never voting against the machine. You’re only voting for the controllers of the machine.” 🧩 The Section 224 Pattern Barrington threads the surveillance fight directly into his Substack warning on Section 224, the defense bill provision proposing undefined “data fusion” with a foreign military. One authority grows in the dark with no debate; the other expires in daylight while the debate is about a personnel appointment. The pattern is identical: the machinery of surveillance expands quietly, and the only fights you are allowed to watch are over who administers it. ⚡ The AI Bill Arrives at Your Door Over 350,000 people petitioned against a single data center next to the Nashville Zoo, Seattle moved to ban new large facilities for a year, and Congress suddenly produced a dozen bills about data centers after passing zero guardrails on AI itself. The receipt: the same AI companies driving the buildout are spending big through super PACs this midterm cycle, and none of the bills is expected to pass. Metro Atlanta is one of the biggest data center markets in the country, which means Georgia is not watching this story. Georgia is in it. 🏫 Philadelphia Proved the Thesis The episode closes with 340 school-based positions pulled off the chopping block, not by a savior, but by students, teachers, and parents who showed up to council meetings until the money was found. Barrington is honest about the fine print: it is a patch, not a cure, and the structural hole returns next year. But the mechanism works. Pressing a button gives you a dopamine hit. Showing up gives you results. ⚖️ Reality Check * Inflation: 4.2%, a three-year high. The president called it the price of his war. * 29% approve of his handling of the economy. 63% disapprove. His worst number in either term. * 7% of retired Americans over 50 are back at work. Reason given: economic necessity. * Savings rate: 2.6%. Lowest since 2022. * Section 702 expires Friday. The fight is over patronage, not privacy. * Section 224’s “data fusion” remains undefined. The silence is the strategy. * 350,000 signatures stopped a data center. A dozen federal bills will stop nothing. * Metro Atlanta is ground zero for the data center buildout. The PSC is where it gets decided. * Philadelphia: 340 school jobs saved by sustained public pressure. The playbook works. 🧠 Barrington’s Message “The system is not broken. It is working exactly how it was built to work, for the people who built it. The inflation, the surveillance, the data centers: those are decisions made above your head that you feel in your wallet. Philadelphia is what happens when ordinary people stop scrolling and grab one lever together and don’t let go. Don’t get mad. Get furious. Then get organized. See it clearly, then move accordingly.” 📬 Stay Connected Subscribe: barrington.substack.com Follow: @TBR24_7 on X Listen Live: ATL Talks Radio – Atlanta’s #1 Streaming Talk Radio 🧩 Why You Should Listen If you are exhausted by partisan noise, this episode is the antidote: every party gets held to the same standard, every claim comes with a receipt, and every story ends with something you can actually do. From the inflation number hitting your grocery bill to the surveillance machine nobody put on your ballot, this hour connects the decisions made above your head to the consequences in your home. TBR doesn’t sell you outrage. It hands you the playbook, and Philadelphia just proved it works. Get full access to The Barrington Report 24/7 at barrington.substack.com/subscribe
Jun 5

TBR 2K25 Episode 65: Business as Usual

🌟 Episode Overview Barrington returns after a two-week absence to deliver on three major stories the mainstream media won’t explain correctly: a federal court striking down Alabama’s Republican congressional map for intentional racial discrimination, Governor Kemp’s gas tax extension using emergency powers that set dangerous precedent, and inflation hitting 3.8% while corporations blame AI for layoffs that are really about covering their AI overspending. The common thread: the system isn’t broken — it’s working exactly as designed for those who built it. The question is whether you can see it clearly enough to protect yourself and move accordingly. 🎹 Key Highlights 📊 Alabama Map Blocked by Trump Judges — Conservative federal panel strikes down Republican congressional map for “intentional racial discrimination.” Two of three judges were Trump appointees. Alabama GOP leadership calls their own president’s judges “activists.” The Voting Rights Act isn’t dead — it got narrowed to its core, and that core still has teeth. ⛽ Kemp’s Gas Tax Emergency Power Grab — Governor extends gas tax suspension using emergency declaration, overriding legislature’s expiration date. Georgia drivers pay 56 cents below national average, credit earned. But the tool he used — emergency power circumventing the legislature — sets precedent for future governors who want to govern around lawmakers instead of through them. 🏦 The Corporate AI Excuse Machine — Companies citing AI automation for layoffs while admitting they overspent on AI technology. One consultant reports client spending half a billion in one month on uncontrolled AI software. CEO admits layoffs are “the only lever they can pull to offset their AI bills.” The robot didn’t make your job redundant — it made their budget explode. 📈 Inflation Reality Check — PCE inflation hits 3.8%, highest since August 2023. American savings rate drops to 2.6%, lowest since June 2022. Your neighbors aren’t saving — they’re spending down what they had just to stand still. Economy walking on credit cards and empty piggy banks. 🎯 Race as Weapon, Power as Target — Same standard applied to NAACP overreach last week and Alabama GOP this week. Both parties use racial rhetoric to disguise power grabs. Conservative court proving TBR right: Callous narrowed Voting Rights Act but didn’t kill the core equal treatment principle. 🔍 The System Working as Designed — Stop saying the system is broken. Start asking who it was built for, then build your own thing. It’s working exactly as intended for those who constructed it and their offspring. Your job isn’t to get angry — it’s to see clearly and move accordingly. ⚖️ Reality Check • Conservative federal court used Voting Rights Act to block Republican map • Two Trump-appointed judges found intentional racial discrimination • Voting Rights Act core remains intact after Callous decision • Georgia gas tax suspension earned credit but created emergency power precedent • Inflation at three-year high while savings rate hits two-year low • Corporate layoffs blamed on AI are really about covering AI overspending • Americans spending down savings to maintain living standards • System designed to work for its builders, not the general population 🧠 Barrington’s Message “The system is not broken. The system is doing exactly what it was built to do. Your job is not to get angry — it’s cool to be angry, but you have to know what to do with that energy. Your job is to see it clearly, then move accordingly. The destiny of this country, the destiny of your communities, are in your hands. You have an easy choice: you can continue on the route of having no action, or you can finally start to care.” 📬 Stay Connected Subscribe: barrington.substack.com Follow: @TBR24_7 on X Listen Live: ATL Talks Radio – Atlanta’s #1 Streaming Talk Radio 🧩 Why You Should Listen This episode cuts through partisan noise on the Alabama redistricting story to show how both parties use race as a weapon while power remains the target. It exposes the corporate AI excuse machine that’s laundering cost-cutting decisions into inevitabilities while working families get squeezed by inflation and job insecurity simultaneously. For Georgians watching the gas tax expiration, this episode provides the civic intelligence you need to track what your governor does next and why the silence from his office tells you the decision is being weighed against something other than your wallet. Get full access to The Barrington Report 24/7 at barrington.substack.com/subscribe
May 1

TBR 2K25 Episode 64: Who Is This Country Still Working For?

🌟 Episode Overview This week on The Barrington Report, Barrington threads three rulings that landed on a single Wednesday — and shows the country what institutional collapse looks like in real time. The Supreme Court rewrote the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais without ever voting to repeal it, and Justice Kagan’s own dissent calls Section 2 “all but a dead letter.” The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for the third meeting in a row with the most internal dissents in 34 years, and Jerome Powell announced he is staying on the Board of Governors through January 2028 — denying President Trump a key vacancy. The longest DHS shutdown in American history rolled into its second month, with the White House publicly siding with Senate Republicans against House Republicans while hurricane season sits 32 days away and Georgia is in the zone. The thesis: the pattern is not partisan — the pattern is institutional. Every level of American government is now functioning exactly as designed. The only question that matters is whether the design is still designed for you. 🎹 Key Highlights ⚖️ When Both Sides Scream Race, Nobody Has to Answer for Power Tuesday’s 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais didn’t strike down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — it rewrote the 40-year-old Gingles test that gave Section 2 its teeth. Plaintiffs now have to draw alternative maps that protect every legitimate state goal including partisan goals, racial bloc voting now has to control for partisan preference, and historical discrimination receives much less weight than before. Kagan’s dissent calls the law “all but a dead letter.” Estimates from Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter project up to 19 majority-minority House seats currently held by Democrats could flip before 2028. Under the Callais framework, Judge Steve Jones’ 2023 ruling that forced Georgia’s redraw doesn’t happen — the Georgia map you’re voting under right now would not exist. But Barrington refuses both the left’s “Reconstruction redux” framing and the right’s “common sense restored” framing. The signature line: “Both parties want you mad about race because if you’re mad about race, you’re not mad about power. And power is what they’re protecting.” Democrats are upset because a reliably Democratic voting bloc is about to get diluted in states where Republicans control the maps. When Democrats had power, they did the same thing — California last year, Virginia last week, New York the cycle before, Illinois for decades. The institution of voting is not as powerful as people have been told. The maps decide more than the votes do. The party gatekeepers decide more than the voters do. 💰 Powell Stayed. Your Mortgage Didn’t Care. Same Wednesday, different room. The Fed held rates in a range between 3.5% and 3.75% — third meeting in a row, no movement. Four officials dissented, the most at a Fed policy meeting since October 1992. CME FedWatch now prices in zero rate cuts for the rest of 2026. Polymarket has the no-cut outcome at over 55%. March inflation 3.3%, April forecast 3.9%, against a Fed target of 2% — moving in the wrong direction. The reason in one word: Iran. Powell said it himself. The Strait of Hormuz is still effectively closed and the IEA is calling this the largest oil supply shock on record. Gas Wednesday was $4.23 per gallon nationally, up about $1.25 since the war started February 28. Powell’s term as chair ends May 15, but he announced he’s staying on as a Fed governor through January 2028 — the first time since Marriner Eccles in 1948. Trump on Truth Social: “Jerome Too Late Powell wants to stay at the Fed because he can’t get a job anywhere else.” Treasury Secretary Bessent said the decision “flies in the face of tradition.” Now the Atlanta translation: every month rates don’t move, your variable-rate debt costs the same as last month. Credit card APRs over 20%. Mortgages locked in the high 6% range. The housing market frozen. Auto loans up. Personal loans up. Small business credit up. The signature line: “While the political class fights over who runs the Federal Reserve, your mortgage payment, your credit card bill, and your car loan do not care who wins.” The Fed is functioning as designed — and the design is protecting the institution before it protects you. 🌪️ A Shutdown, A Hurricane, and a Speaker Who Can’t Count The DHS partial shutdown is now in its second month — the longest in American history. 260,000 federal employees affected. Over 100,000 working without pay. Wednesday morning, Speaker Mike Johnson tried to combine FISA Section 702, the farm bill, and the Senate-passed ICE/CBP reconciliation package into a single procedural rule vote. The rule failed. House Republicans tanked their own leadership. Tuesday evening, the Trump White House budget office sent a memo telling House Republicans to cave and pass the Senate version — the President’s own budget office is publicly siding against the House GOP. They said no anyway. TSA agents at Hartsfield-Jackson are working without paychecks. Coast Guard members along the Georgia coastline are on duty unpaid. FEMA staff face a contracting backlog sources inside the agency say will take months to clear after the shutdown ends — and FEMA leadership is still in transition. Hurricane season starts June 1. The Highway 82 and Pineland Road wildfires that destroyed more than 120 Georgia homes earlier this month were fueled in part by leftover Helene debris the federal recovery system never finished clearing. That’s FEMA on a normal day. House Democrats filed a discharge petition that needs 218 signatures and 4 Republican crossovers. Zero have crossed. Even one of Hakeem Jeffries’ own members admitted on the record: “It’s good politics but it’s not going to actually get DHS open and help the officers get their paychecks.” Both sides chose the position. The signature line: “There is no political argument — right or left — that makes a compromised FEMA acceptable 32 days before hurricane season.” ⚖️ Reality Check * Louisiana v. Callais decided 6-3 on April 29. Alito majority. Kagan, Sotomayor, Jackson dissenting. * Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act now “all but a dead letter” per Kagan’s own dissent. * Three changes to the Gingles test: alternative maps must satisfy state partisan goals, bloc voting must control for partisanship, historical discrimination weighted less. * 19 majority-minority House seats potentially flipped before 2028 per Fair Fight Action / Black Voters Matter. * Under Callais, Judge Jones’ 2023 Georgia ruling does not happen. Current Georgia map does not exist. * Federal Reserve held rates 3.5–3.75%. Third consecutive hold. * 4 dissents — most since October 1992 (34 years). * Markets pricing zero rate cuts for the rest of 2026. * March inflation 3.3%. April forecast 3.9%. Fed target 2%. * Gas $4.23/gal nationally Wednesday. Up ~$1.25 since Iran war began February 28. * Powell staying on Board of Governors through January 2028 — first since Marriner Eccles in 1948. * Kevin Warsh advanced through Senate Banking Committee 13-11 — first fully partisan committee vote on a Fed chair in panel history per Sen. Warren. * Credit card APRs over 20%. Mortgage rates in the high 6% range. Both staying put. * DHS shutdown longest in U.S. history. 260,000 federal employees affected. 100,000+ unpaid. * House Wednesday rule vote on FISA + farm bill + ICE reconciliation failed. * White House budget office Tuesday told House GOP to cave. House GOP refused. * Discharge petition needs 218 signatures, 4 Republican crossovers. Zero have crossed. * Hurricane season starts June 1. 32 days from broadcast. * Highway 82 and Pineland Road fires destroyed 120+ Georgia homes — fueled in part by uncleared Helene debris. * The pattern is not partisan. The pattern is institutional. 🧠 Barrington’s Message “Three rulings. Three institutions. Three different rooms in Washington. All on the same Wednesday. A court that rewrote a civil rights law without ever voting to repeal it. A Federal Reserve that held the line against political pressure but held it on terms that cost your household every single month. A House of Representatives that cannot count its own votes 32 days before hurricane season. The pattern is not partisan. The pattern is institutional. Every level of American government is now functioning exactly as designed. The question for you is whether the design is still designed for you. You should only be loyal to the truth. You should never be loyal to these political parties because they do not care about you. They care about power, and you are the route to which they receive their power. The pain of truth is the work — and once you can tolerate it, you’ll be able to see things as they are and not what you want them to be. In order for you to love others, you must first learn to love yourself.” — Barrington Martin II 📬 Stay Connected Subscribe: barrington.substack.com Podcast: Apple Podcasts and Spotify: search “The Barrington Report” Follow: TBR24_7 on X Listen Live: ATL Talks Radio — atltalks.com 🧩 Why You Should Listen If you’re tired of cable news telling you which team to cheer for while three branches of government quietly stop working for you on the same Wednesday, this episode is your receipt. Barrington Martin II takes three rulings most outlets covered in tribal isolation and shows you the single pattern they share — institutional design that protects itself before it protects you. No party gets a pass. No narrative gets a free ride. The Pain of Truth means exactly what it says — and this week, the truth is that the pattern is not partisan. The pattern is institutional. And the only question that matters is whether the design is still designed for you. Get full access to The Barringt
Apr 24

TBR 2K25 Episode 63: Heads They Win, Tails You Lose

🌟 Episode Overview This week on The Barrington Report, Barrington threads three stories that share one spine: power, at every level, rewriting the rules to protect itself. Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday by a 2% margin to let the state legislature redraw congressional districts mid-decade — a move that could flip up to four seats — and a Republican-appointed judge blocked the result less than 12 hours later. Tennessee Republicans voted to seize control of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, stripping authority from a locally elected school board governing a $1.7 billion district serving 100,000 students in the state’s largest majority-Black county — and on the same day, the governor signed a companion bill preventing that district from using its own money to sue. And in Washington, four House members faced ethics reckonings this month. Three resigned. One is daring his colleagues to call the vote. The thesis: the pattern is not partisan. The pattern is power. And the only question that matters is whether you’re paying close enough attention to notice when the rules change — because they always change before the vote, and they always change in favor of the people changing them. 🎹 Key Highlights 🗺️ The Gerrymander Con — Both Parties, Named and Numbered Tuesday, April 21st, Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment 50.7 to 49.3 — 2.5 million ballots cast, a 2% margin, essentially a coin flip. The new map could shift Virginia’s congressional delegation from 6-5 Republican to 10-1 Democratic. Four seats potentially flipped, not because voters changed their minds, but because the lines on the map got redrawn around them. Less than 12 hours later, a Republican-appointed Virginia circuit court judge in Tazewell County blocked the certification. Before anyone on the right cheers that judge, walk it back. Last summer, President Trump pressured Texas Republicans to redraw their map mid-decade to pick up as many as five seats before the 2026 midterms. Missouri followed. Ohio followed. North Carolina followed. Florida’s special session starts April 28th. California Democrats responded with their own initiative to flip five seats. Utah drew another Democratic seat. Virginia just authorized four more. Axios analysis using 2024 election data shows Kamala Harris would have carried six more seats under the new lines than she did under the old ones. Even House Republicans are admitting it on the record — California Rep. Kevin Kiley told Axios “I wish none of this had happened.” Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon called it a mistake in hindsight. The signature line: “Politicians drawing their own districts is politicians picking their own voters. That is not democracy. That is a rigged game where the scoreboard gets painted after the play.” 🏫 Memphis Taken, Philly Cut — How the System Sorts Children Wednesday night, April 22nd, Tennessee passed Senate Bill 714. Senate 27-6, House 73-19, both down party lines. The bill creates a nine-member politically appointed board — not elected, appointed — with sweeping authority over Memphis-Shelby County Schools, a district serving over 100,000 students with a $1.7 billion budget at the heart of the state’s largest majority-Black county. Five members appointed by Governor Bill Lee, two by the House Speaker, two by the Senate Speaker. One board member, by design, gets picked from anywhere else in Tennessee. The board can hire and fire the superintendent, hire and fire teachers, open and close schools, and set curriculum for four years with an option to renew for two more. On the same day, Governor Lee signed a separate bill preventing Tennessee school districts from using public funds to sue over state accountability measures — the school board had already voted to hire a lawyer, and the governor made sure they couldn’t pay one with the district’s own money. Yes, 75% of Memphis students failed reading and math proficiency last year. That’s a real failure. But that same district earned the state’s highest possible academic growth score for the fourth year running, and 80% of Tennessee schools already meet two of the six criteria the new law uses to justify a takeover. Meanwhile in Philadelphia, students are walking out as the district moves forward with closures gutting sports, AP classes, math coverage, and the arts. The Tennessee model is not staying in Tennessee. It is a blueprint. And when it arrives in Georgia — and it will — the question won’t be whether the test scores are bad enough. The question will be whether the community was paying attention before the vote happened. ⚖️ Four Members, One Standard — Equal Weights, Equal Measures Run the roll. Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California — sexual misconduct allegations — resigned. Tony Gonzales, Republican of Texas — sexual misconduct allegations — resigned. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Democrat of Florida — found guilty by the House Ethics Committee on 25 of 27 counts including funneling $5 million in misallocated COVID relief funds to her own congressional campaign, under federal criminal indictment — resigned Tuesday afternoon minutes before the Ethics Committee was set to recommend her expulsion. Cory Mills, Republican of Florida — under Ethics Committee investigation since August 2024, accused of stolen valor regarding his Bronze Star (five soldiers who served with him disputed his account to NOTUS), accused of domestic violence with a Florida judge issuing a restraining order, and tied through OCC reporting to nearly $1 million in federal weapons contracts secured during his time in Congress — has denied all wrongdoing. On Monday, Rep. Nancy Mace introduced a resolution to expel him. His response on X was to dare her to call the vote and post attacks on her drinking habits. Three out of four did the right thing. One won’t. Speaker Johnson said Monday he would not encourage Republicans to pursue expulsion against each other. Hakeem Jeffries’ caucus is not united on Mills either. Everyone in leadership seems to be hoping the Ethics investigation quietly runs out the clock. Now the Georgia hook: Rep. Hank Johnson, Democrat of Georgia, is on the record this week with Axios saying he regrets his vote to expel George Santos in 2023. Honorable man, and the consistency is respectable. But when the accused is a Congressional Black Caucus member, several CBC members suddenly discovered a deep concern for due process that was nowhere to be found when Santos was on the chopping block. The CBC chair issued a statement praising Cherfilus-McCormick — for funneling $5 million of disaster relief to her own campaign. The signature line: “Accountability is not a partisan weapon. It is a standard. If it only applies to the other side, it is not a standard — it is a grudge with a gavel.” ⚖️ Reality Check * Virginia 50.7 to 49.3, blocked the next morning. Could flip 4 seats. 10-1 Democratic from 6-5 Republican. * Texas, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina already redrew. Florida special session starts April 28th. California, Utah, Virginia drew counter-maps. * Harris would have carried 6 more seats under the new maps using 2024 data. * Tennessee SB 714: Senate 27-6, House 73-19. Same-day companion bill bars countersuits. * Memphis-Shelby County: 100,000+ students, $1.7B budget, majority-Black county. 75% failed reading/math, highest growth score 4 years running. * 80% of Tennessee schools already meet 2 of 6 takeover criteria. Seven other districts meet 3 of 6. Two of those run by the state itself. * Cherfilus-McCormick: 25 of 27 Ethics counts, $5M COVID funds, under federal indictment. * Mills: Ethics open since August 2024, Bronze Star disputed by 5 fellow soldiers, restraining order, ~$1M in federal weapons contracts. * Three resignations, one holdout. Two Democrats, one Republican stepped down. One Republican refused. * Hank Johnson on the record regretting the Santos expulsion vote. * Georgia map: Oct 2023 VRA ruling (Judge Jones); House passed redraw 98-71, Senate 32-22, Kemp signed Dec 8, 2023. Lucy McBath’s coalition district collapsed. 9-5 Republican split preserved. 🧠 Barrington’s Message “Every story this week is the same story. Power, at every level, rewriting the rules to protect itself. A mid-decade gerrymander in Virginia because the voters got inconvenient. A state takeover of Memphis schools because the local school board got inconvenient. A companion bill preventing that board from suing because the courts might get inconvenient. A Speaker who won’t push his own party’s accountability because the math might get inconvenient. The pattern is not partisan. The pattern is power. And the only question that matters is whether you’re paying close enough attention to notice when the rules change — because they always change before the vote, and they always change in favor of the people changing them.” 📬 Stay Connected Subscribe: barrington.substack.com Follow: @TBR24_7 on X Listen Live: ATL Talks Radio – Atlanta’s #1 Streaming Talk Radio 🧩 Why You Should Listen If you’re tired of cable news training you to root for one team’s gerrymander while crying foul at the other’s, this is your show. The Barrington Report cuts through the partisan theater to deliver the civic intelligence that actually moves your vote, your child’s classroom, and your representative’s seat — with no sponsors, no agenda, and no tribal loyalty. Every Thursday, the pain of truth. The truth is the only loyalty. Pay attention. Show up. Get full access to The Barrington Report 24/7 at barrington.substack.com/subscribe
Apr 24

TBR 2K25 Episode 62: Again... No One Is Coming to Save You.

🌟 Episode Overview This week on The Barrington Report, Barrington follows up on three threads from two weeks ago — and shows what the gap between Washington’s words and your wallet looks like 14 days later. Georgia did the right thing on the gas tax, suspending 33.3 cents per gallon through May 19th, but the Strait of Hormuz is now under full U.S. naval blockade and JP Morgan is projecting $5 gas by month’s end. Texas just voted to mandate Bible-based reading lists in every public school while the federal Department of Education packs up its Washington headquarters — and most parents can’t name a single member of their state board of education. And in New York and Philadelphia, two mayors are running the same playbook: announce a crisis, propose a new tax, never audit where the last round of money went. The thesis: knowing and doing nothing is worse than not knowing at all — and trusting somebody else to do it for you is worse than both. 🎹 Key Highlights ⛽ Georgia Got It Right — For 33 More Days On March 20th, Governor Kemp signed HB 1199, suspending Georgia’s 33.3-cent state motor fuel tax through May 19th. Bipartisan vote, both chambers. Projected savings to drivers and truckers: roughly $400 million over 60 days. Today, Georgia gas sits at $3.71 a gallon — 42 cents below the $4.13 national average. Credit where it’s due. But credit is cheap, and accountability is the product. Maryland called the same move a budget-buster. New York’s governor called gas tax holidays “ineffective.” DeSantis in Florida — who ran on affordability — said the suspension “may get offset by further price increases,” meaning his plan is to do nothing while prices climb. Most states have the unilateral authority to do exactly what Georgia did. They’re choosing not to. And on April 13th, the U.S. Navy announced a full blockade of Iranian ports. Ship transits through the Strait dropped from 130 a day in February to 6 a day in March. JP Morgan now projects $5 gas by late April. The signature line: “A 60-day suspension during a war with no ceasefire in sight isn’t a solution. It’s an intermission.” So what happens on May 20th when the curtain goes back up? 📚 The Federal Government Is Walking Away. Who Walks In? Three stories broke in 72 hours that tell the same story from three angles. Texas State Board of Education voted 9-5 along party lines to give preliminary approval to mandatory statewide reading lists that include Bible-based material — every public school in Texas required to teach from this list starting in 2030. Federal Education Secretary Linda McMahon stood up last month and celebrated the administration’s “unprecedented progress in reducing the federal education footprint” — the Department of Education is literally moving out of its Washington headquarters. And in Philadelphia, parents trying to review their children’s new social studies curriculum had to get the materials secondhand from a teacher willing to leak them — the district refused to share. The pattern: federal oversight pulling back, state legislatures moving in, parents locked out of the room. The system isn’t broken — it’s functioning exactly as designed, for the people who designed it. Children are sorted by zip code. Curriculum is decided by whatever faction controls the state Board of Education in that zip code. The Texas Bible vote is a useful story because it’s easy to have an opinion about — but the real story is that your state’s board of education has the same exact authority. The only firewall between that authority and your child’s classroom is you. Can you name a single member of the Georgia State Board of Education? If you can’t, that’s the segment. 💰 Two Mayors, Two New Taxes, One Question Both Parties Don’t Want You to Ask New York’s Mayor Mamdani is celebrating a proposed $500 million luxury second-home tax, framed as “taxing the rich.” Philadelphia’s Mayor Cherelle Parker held a press conference Wednesday announcing a rideshare tax — the “Uber tax” — framed as the only way to “save all school-based jobs on the chopping block.” Same playbook in different uniforms. Before the tribal instincts kick in, this segment isn’t about whether taxes are good or bad. It’s not a defense of luxury homeowners or an attack on teachers. It’s the question both parties have spent two generations training you not to ask: where did the money already go? New York and Philadelphia didn’t run out of money last week. They’ve been collecting taxes for decades. Both have multi-billion-dollar budgets. Both have had teachers, schools, and social services as line items every single year. The pull quote: “The tax debate is downstream of the audit debate, and the audit debate almost never happens because both parties benefit from you arguing about the rate and not the receipt.” Republicans get to campaign on cutting. Democrats get to campaign on funding. Neither has to answer for where the last round of money went. And Atlanta is not exempt — MARTA debates, APS budget cycles, city revenue mechanisms that appear right before election cycles. Same script. The verdict: no new revenue should be approved anywhere — red city, blue city, purple state — until the previous revenue is accounted for. Full stop. ⚖️ Reality Check * Georgia HB 1199 saves drivers ~$400M over 60 days. Suspension expires May 19th. * Georgia gas: $3.71/gal. National average: $4.13. Gap: 42 cents. * U.S. Navy announced full blockade of Iranian ports April 13th. Ship transits through Hormuz: 130/day in February → 6/day in March. * JP Morgan projecting $5 gas by late April. Diesel in Georgia already at $5.25. * President said last weekend gas prices may be “the same or maybe a little bit higher” by midterms. * Texas State Board of Education voted 9-5 to mandate statewide reading lists with Bible-based content. Effective 2030. * Federal Department of Education physically vacating its Washington headquarters. * Philadelphia parents had to get district curriculum secondhand through a leaking teacher. * New York proposed $500M luxury second-home tax. Philadelphia proposed rideshare (”Uber”) tax to fund teacher jobs. * Neither city has produced an audit of prior education spending. * Atlanta will run the same playbook within 12 months. MARTA, APS, city budget hearings — watch the calendar. 🧠 Barrington’s Message “Two weeks ago I told you that knowing and doing nothing is worse than not knowing at all. I stand by that. Tonight I’m adding to it. Knowing and trusting somebody else will do it for you — that’s worse than both. The gas tax will snap back on May 20th if you don’t call your legislator. The curriculum vote will happen whether you show up to the board meeting or not. The new tax will pass whether you audit the old one or not. No one is coming to save you. That’s not a complaint. That’s a job description. The pain of truth is the work — and the work is yours. It always was. It always will be.” 📬 Stay Connected Subscribe: barrington.substack.com Follow: @TBR24_7 on X Listen Live: ATL Talks Radio – Atlanta’s #1 Streaming Talk Radio 🧩 Why You Should Listen If you’re tired of cable news training you to argue about the rate while nobody asks for the receipt, this is your show. The Barrington Report cuts through the partisan theater to deliver civic intelligence that actually moves your gas tank, your child’s classroom, and your city’s budget — with no sponsors, no agenda, and no tribal loyalty. Pay the price of citizenship every Thursday — or somebody else will spend it for you. Get full access to The Barrington Report 24/7 at barrington.substack.com/subscribe

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This is the Barrington Report Replay! Replays of the live show that occur every Thursday at 7pm Eastern. The only show where you hear the news that isn't news, unique perspectives that will never be said on mainstream media and the total, absolute, truth! barrington.substack.com

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The Barrington Report Replays
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2024 - 2026
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77
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© Barrington Martin II
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The Barrington Report Replays