Peter Barraca

[yatshitcray @yatshitcray]

Of everything that happened during my year at DOGE...

This is what I’ll remember most.

The first time I visited the Retirements Mine, I didn’t know what to expect.

Some of the folks there had spent their entire careers inside that mountain. They were understandably cautious about me and the project at first, but they graciously taught me how everything worked.

As I learned from them, I started building little tools to make their jobs easier. At first it was small: a button that saved hours of repetitive data entry. Before long, it became entire digital systems that helped them review retirement cases faster.

Looking back, I’m grateful to say we built an incredible partnership.

It wasn’t just the folks in the Mine, either. Over the past year, I had the privilege of working alongside retirement executives, engineers, and countless career employees. Every one of them played a role in bringing this effort to life.

And then, somewhere along the way, visiting the Mine stopped feeling like a work trip.

This might sound ridiculous to say, but over time it started to feel more like coming over for Thanksgiving. Except instead of fixing the family printer, it was figuring out how we could get all this paper onto computers.

What struck me most came during these last few months.

On my more recent trips, I’d set up shop in a conference room, and people would stop by throughout the day just to chat and pitch ideas. One adjudicator (let me know if I can tag you 😉) even had the day off, heard I was in the Mine, and drove all the way in anyway because she wanted to share an idea.

And they weren’t asking whether AI was coming.

They were pitching ideas for what we should build next.

This was a team that had spent decades working with paper. Now here they were, brainstorming how technology and AI could make their work even better.

That’s when I realized this effort became real.

It wasn't just because we'd gone digital. It was because the people closest to the work were excited to help shape what came next.

That’s the kind of thing you can’t fake.

[Tony Seruga @TonySeruga]

🚨 IRAN DRAWS FIRST BLOOD ON THE HIGH SEAS — AMERICA ANSWERS WITH HELLFIRE

They poked the bear. Now they’re burning.

Iran’s IRGC fired missiles at three commercial tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz — a Qatari LNG vessel, a Saudi crude carrier, and a Liberian-flagged ship.

One took a direct hit to the engine room and caught fire off the Omani coast. Crew scrambled to the starboard side as smoke filled the decks. No casualties, but only by the grace of God.

Tehran thought the ceasefire was a permission slip. They miscalculated catastrophically.

Within hours, U.S. Central Command unleashed a coordinated barrage: 80+ targets struck — air defense systems, command-and-control networks, coastal radar installations, anti-ship missile batteries, and over 60 IRGC small boats turned to scrap metal. Qeshm Island. Bandar Abbas. Sirik. All hit.

The Treasury didn’t wait either. Oil sanctions waiver? Revoked. Iran’s brief window to sell crude on the open market for actual dollars — gone. Back to the shadow fleet and below-market Chinese deals.

And here’s the part the legacy press will dance around: this wasn’t random. Iran has been running a protection racket on the world’s most critical energy chokepoint. They established a so-called “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” to shake down commercial shipping for “service fees” — $2 million per transit at the war’s peak. They broadcast threats over maritime radio: “Our missiles and drones are ready to fire at you.”

This is what happens when you let a regime that hangs women for showing their hair dictate terms over 20% of global oil and gas transit.

The ceasefire is de facto dead. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya command is already promising a “crushing response.” Fine. They’ve been promising that since February 28, when the war started, and Supreme Leader Khamenei got turned into a martyr. His funeral isn’t even finished — burial in Mashhad scheduled for July 9 — and his successors are already torching what remained of the peace process.

The momentum is clear: Tehran wants sovereignty over the Strait, permanent fees on every ship that passes, and veto power over which nations get to export energy. The U.S. and every Gulf state from Qatar to Saudi Arabia have said absolutely not. That’s the real red line. That’s why we’re here.

The unspoken truth: every “ceasefire” and “memorandum of understanding” has been Iran buying time — restocking, repositioning, probing for weakness. Monday night’s missile strikes were the test. Tuesday’s response was the answer.

There is no diplomatic off-ramp when one side demands tribute to allow free navigation of international waters. There is only the application of overwhelming force until the math changes.

The Strait of Hormuz will not become the Islamic Republic’s toll booth. Period.

📽️ Must-watch videos below 👇

Freedom of navigation isn’t a suggestion. It’s a guarantee written in the language of precision-guided munitions. 🇺🇸

[Mor Edge Insight @MorEdge_Insight]

Oh would you look at that… Hamas operatives coming out from a tunnel… in Gaza… inside a school… with lots and lots and lots and lots of… weapons.

And then they just casually move through the school and stack the weapons inside cupboards and specially concealed nooks.

And when the IDF come for those weapons that will be used to KILL Israelis, the whole Arab and western world and the UN will cry and shout and scream that Israel “targets schools and… children” while Hamas cry and pretend they are the victims.

It’s all so predictable and boring already. When the kids die, this is why. And all the fake moral outrage and condemnation at Israel for doing what the rest of the world sees but does nothing about is all too pathetic.

If the world intentionally turns a blind eye to schools and kids being used as human shields, then it is the world, NOT ISRAEL, responsible for the consequences.

[Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol]

🚨#BREAKING: ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE HAS BEEN RELEASED OF TWO BLACK MEN CHASING AND THEN REPEATEDLY ST*BBING A 42-YEAR-OLD WHITE MAN IN THE BRONX.

WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS!!!!

[Homer Pavlos @HomerPavlos]

Odyssey is part of our Greek culture and history. We have every right to be offended. You disrespect Homer and race-swap figures important to our culture, a culture that built Western civilization. Nolan, Lupita and their low IQ defenders are the actual racists towards us Greeks.

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 A 13-year-old orphaned girl told staff she felt unsafe, but her request to move was DENIED.

JK Rowling just offered to pay for her day in court.

The girl, the only female in the unit, was placed at St Mary's Kenmure in Glasgow alongside 11 boys aged 15-17, all older teenage offenders. She had committed no crime.

When she asked to move to an empty houseblock, the answer was "no."

The case was documented by the Council of Europe's committee for the prevention of torture after an inspection last year.

Rowling took to X: "Who does it hurt if we make every space mixed-sex? This is who it hurts: the most vulnerable, those without power and influence, the invisible people politicians don't bother to consider when chasing likes and photo ops."

She then posted a link to her women's fund and offered to cover legal costs for the girl or anyone acting on her behalf.

The world's most successful children’s author is helping kids with more than just great reading material.

Source: Daily Mail / Writer: Michael

[grunthos1 @grunthos14]

@catturd2 What I don't understand is, after Snow White, Bud Light, Jaguar and all the other trans bullshit woke disasters is....

Why don't they "get it" yet?

[Catturd ™ @catturd2]

Every liberal movie critic in America, oddly, all at the same time, are praising The Odyssey this morning.

That's enough for me to know that it's woke garbage.

Hard pass.

[Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok]

Make her famous

[Gunther Eagleman™ @GuntherEagleman]

🚨 BREAKING: Cuba plunged into ANOTHER island-wide blackout, total darkness for 10+ million people as fuel reserves run dry and the grid collapses again.

Second major blackout this year. Communist paradise can't produce enough energy, relies on foreign oil for 60%, and now hospitals and families are suffering.

This is what decades of socialism delivers: No lights, no power, total failure.

Meanwhile, America under Trump is energy DOMINANT, producing more than ever, independent and strong.

Never forget what radical left policies do to a country. Wake up!

[Right Angle News Network @Rightanglenews]

It’s been revealed that the black woman Democrats put on a pedestal for “bravely” riding a train with Patriot Front members was engaging in indecent exposure on the train moments before the photo was taken and has a lengthy arrest record.

[Alix @AlixG_2]

Dear black people, stop saying black lives matter to white people. Over 10,000 black people are murdered by black people annually.
White people are not the problem so leave us out of it ffs.

[Yan @Yantastic]

Psycho woman rips license plate off my Tesla in NYC.

Please make her famous. I have additional face shot videos in the thread.

I never thought this would happen to me. Caught on Tesla dashcam today (July 6) around 5:18pm in the Lower East Side.

She walked straight up to my parked white Tesla at 171 E Broadway, tore the plate straight off, then casually walked away… and later strolled right back past the spot like nothing happened.

Complete psychopath.

@elonmusk @WholeMarsBlog @SawyerMerritt @libsoftiktok @CollinRugg @TaraBull @ray4tesla @Teslarati

#Tesla #Teslacam #TeslaVandal #NYC #model3

[Irish🇮🇪✝️ @CapatanEl4662]

The NSCPA have comfirmed the dog that was burnt in ballymun, dublin. Had a pole threw its body and was being roasted like a pig for these savages to eat.

This cruelty is unheard of in ireland. And if mass deportations don't happen soon. It could be a child next. Who knows with these low IQ savages.

[Handre @Handre]

Two countries split from the same colonial body in 1965. One picked economic freedom. The other picked handouts and racial spoils. You already know how this ended.

Singapore had no oil, no farmland, no hinterland. Just a swamp and a port. Lee Kuan Yew looked at that and trusted trade, low taxes, and hard money. Central planners hate what he did.

Malaysia went the other way. In 1971 Kuala Lumpur launched the New Economic Policy, a state program handing quotas, contracts, and university seats to ethnic Malays. Politicians decided who got what. A commissar fantasy dressed in liberal language.

Now let's look at the numbers. In 1965 both places sat around $500 per capita. Today Singapore clears $84,000. Malaysia sits near $13,000. Same climate, same starting line, one sixth the result.

The Singapore dollar holds its value because the Monetary Authority of Singapore manages it against a currency basket and refuses to print its way out of trouble. The ringgit has lost roughly two thirds of its value against the Singapore dollar since 1981.

You cannot subsidize your way to wealth. You cannot redistribute what you never let people produce. Every ringgit funneled through a quota is a ringgit some bureaucrat spent on his own vision instead of a customer's.

Malaysia bet on planners deciding outcomes. Singapore bet on people deciding for themselves. The gap between $84,000 and $13,000 is your answer.

[The Limiting Factor @LimitingThe]

Most revolutions are driven by rich people jealous of other rich people

The poor get screwed

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

Scottish taxpayers, against the vast majority’s will, funded an attempt by the government to keep men in women’s prisons. Never have I been so tempted to move to Monaco and give all the money I’ve been paying in tax to groups fighting the rank misogyny of Swinney’s government.

[Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson]

The Federal Reserve just CONFIRMED what every American already felt in their wallet.

Joe Biden's illegal alien surge drove home prices to RISE by 30% and rent by 20%.

That’s what happens when 7 million people flood into your country in a 3 year span.

Hard working American families got priced out of the American Dream so Biden could flood the country.

Now President Trump is doing the opposite: securing the border, putting Americans FIRST, and fighting to stop giants like BlackRock from buying up single-family homes that should go to American families.

President Trump is turning the American Dream into the American Reality 🇺🇸

[Armin Navabi @ArminNavabi]

🚨 ANOTHER BRAND NEW VIDEO DIRECT FROM IRAN: The call to be armed has evolved. This is no longer about small-scale tactics or asking for pistols to target low-level regime forces; it is the deployment of a next-level strategy. A highly sophisticated, organized force inside Iran is preparing for a decisive action to finish the matter.

These individuals are sending videos directly to me to break through the silence and project a completely new reality on the ground. This latest footage reveals a group operating east of Tehran near Pardis and Jajrud, confidently displaying their exact GPS location before setting up a fleet of FPV and surveillance drones. Their message is absolute: the era of disorganized vigilantes playing around with guns is over. They are operating with modern tools and calculated precision.

On the audio track, a mechanically disguised voice delivers a clear warning directly to the state: "This time you are in the center of our target. We are not waiting for the help of others, and we are waiting for you where you do not expect it." The message ends with the declaration "Long live Iran, Javid Shah" (Long Live the King). While they are maintaining strict operational security by keeping their exact targets and timelines secret, they promise the results will be seen soon.

For the millions they represent, peaceful protest against live ammunition has proven impossible. They aren't asking for foreign boots on the ground. They are demonstrating that if Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has a force at his command, that force is intelligent, advanced, and ready. And let’s be clear: the only viable path to effectively arming and coordinating this movement is through direct alignment with the Prince and his team.

They risked their lives to deliver this proof straight from the ground. More people need to amplify their call. Do not let the regime bury their bravery.