Receipts Matter

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

There's no question the Biden years saw extraordinarily high illegal-border encounters. That's in CBP's own data and shouldn't be minimized.

But “facilitated the invasion” leaves out another part of the government's own numbers.

DHS says the Biden administration carried out more than 4.6 million repatriations through removals, returns and expulsions. In FY2024 alone, DHS completed more than 685,000 removals and returns—the most since 2010.

Biden also tightened asylum restrictions in June 2024, after which Border Patrol encounters fell more than 50% over roughly six weeks.

There's plenty to debate about whether earlier policy choices contributed to the surge and whether tougher measures should have come sooner.

But “record border encounters” and “everyone was simply allowed into the country” aren't the same statistic.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

CNN never announced that it was boycotting Trump or wouldn't cover him.

CNN was scheduled to provide the shared White House TV pool coverage. After the White House barred CNN and prevented it from fulfilling that assignment, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox declined to replace CNN. The shared TV pool feed was therefore suspended.

That's what Kaitlan Collins reported—not that CNN would stop reporting on Trump.

CNN continued covering Trump journalistically. And at the UN, CNN was able to cover him because the United Nations independently credentialed its reporters.

Trump told Collins, “You said you weren't going to cover me.”

Her response explained the distinction perfectly: “The United Nations allowed us in, sir.”

Stopping the shared White House TV pool feed ≠ boycotting coverage of Trump.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

Nobody is claiming politicians can turn a thermostat and “change the temperatures across planet Earth.”

The scientific claim is much simpler: adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere reduces heat loss to space and warms the climate. NASA and the IPCC conclude that human greenhouse-gas emissions are the primary cause of the modern warming trend.

And this isn't a scientific idea invented by Democrats. Republican presidents from Reagan through both Bush administrations publicly discussed global warming and climate change.

Whether a particular climate program is effective, costs too much, wastes money or gives government too much power is absolutely fair to debate.

But “I don't like the proposed solution” doesn't establish that the underlying physical phenomenon is a hoax.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

The Obama part is real and deserves criticism.

In 2013, it was revealed that Obama's DOJ had secretly obtained roughly two months of records from 21 AP phone lines while investigating a classified-information leak. AP called it a massive intrusion into newsgathering.

But “way worse than anything Trump has ever done” leaves out some rather relevant history.

Trump's DOJ secretly obtained phone records of three Washington Post reporters and sought their email records. It obtained phone records of four New York Times reporters and sought email records. It also obtained CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr's phone and email records.

And in January 2026, the FBI seized a Washington Post reporter's phone and computers during another leak investigation, prompting an ongoing court fight over searching them.

Press freedom doesn't become more or less important depending on which administration is investigating the press.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

There actually were CNN and MSNBC personalities and guests who supported Trump's 2021 social-media suspensions, so let's not rewrite that history.

But there's an important legal distinction.

Twitter and Facebook were private companies enforcing their platform rules. The First Amendment restricts government action; it doesn't require a private social-media company to provide someone an account.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico are challenging the federal government revoking their credentials and barring their reporters from White House grounds.

You can believe the social-media companies made the wrong decision in 2021. But a private company removing someone's account and the government restricting press access aren't the same First Amendment question.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

This comparison doesn't work quite the way you think.

Venezuela's socialist government has historically kept gasoline among the cheapest in the world through state subsidies and price controls. The much bigger problem has been shortages, underinvestment and a badly deteriorated refining system.

Cuba currently has extremely expensive and scarce fuel—but it's also experiencing severe supply shortages while the U.S. is actively restricting oil shipments to the island.

So Cuba and Venezuela actually demonstrate why the posted price of gasoline isn't a simple measure of capitalism vs. socialism.

And before either country tells us anything about a U.S. candidate, you'd first have to establish that the candidate is actually proposing Cuba's or Venezuela's economic system.

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These weren't simply terms “the Left” kept inventing to rebrand the same scare.

Republican presidents used them too.

In 1988, Reagan and Gorbachev issued a joint statement discussing “global climate and environmental change” and a possible “global warming trend.”

George H.W. Bush campaigned in 1988 discussing “global warming” and the greenhouse effect and promised international action.

George W. Bush gave a 2001 speech literally titled “Remarks by the President on Global Climate Change,” saying climate change “must be addressed by the world.” His White House later said he acknowledged that climate change was occurring and humans were contributing to it.

“Climate crisis” and “climate emergency” are newer, more urgent rhetoric. But “global warming” and “climate change” weren't sequential political rebrandings—they've coexisted / been used for decades, including under Republican presidents.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

The fraud issue here is real.

CMS says it canceled about 315,000 unauthorized ACA Marketplace enrollments covering more than 760,000 people and expects to recover roughly $2.2 billion in improperly paid subsidies. That's substantial money and absolutely worth investigating and preventing.

But saying this is a reason America has roughly $40 trillion in debt needs perspective.

$2.2 billion is about 0.006% of $40 trillion. CBO projects the entire ACA Marketplace premium-tax-credit program at about $112 billion this year.

Fraud and improper payments should be stopped regardless of the program. But finding fraud within the ACA doesn't establish that the ACA—or this $2.2 billion—is a significant explanation for $40 trillion in accumulated federal debt.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

The 61% figure is real, and New York really did eliminate the Academic Literacy Skills Test as a teacher-certification requirement in 2017.

But there's some missing context.

The ALST wasn't the only requirement for becoming a NY teacher. The Board of Regents said the separate exam was costly and duplicative of other certification requirements and proposed incorporating literacy assessment into another required exam. Teacher candidates also continued taking subject-specific exams.

Whether eliminating a test specifically designed to measure minimum academic literacy was a good policy is a legitimate debate—especially when roughly 39% weren't passing it.

And this isn't unique to New York. Several states (red and blue) have eliminated standalone teacher basic-skills exams or statewide passing-score requirements, while others (red and blue) still require them.

So: the headline claim is basically true. However, “New York simply decided teachers don't need to be literate” would go considerably beyond what actually happened.

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There are Democrats who want to abolish ICE, and there are Democrats who support criminal-justice policies that reduce incarceration. Those are fair positions to scrutinize.

But “if Democrats win, this is what Democrats will do” requires more than pointing to positions held by some members of the party.

The DNC just demonstrated the problem: it approved one nonbinding resolution calling for abolishing ICE and another calling for reforming ICE. AP notes neither establishes the party platform.

And “let people out of prison” isn't particularly useful without specifying the policy. Trump himself has used pardons and commutations to release or shorten the sentences of people convicted of serious federal crimes, including people serving lengthy drug and Jan 6 sentences.

Name the actual healthcare, ICE and criminal-justice proposals being discussed and we can evaluate what they would really do. “Socialists will write the rules” doesn't tell us that.

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The difference is that your house is private property. The White House is the seat of the federal executive branch.

Nobody has a constitutional claim to attend your house party.

The actual legal question is whether the government can grant press access and then selectively revoke an outlet's credentials because the President believes its reporting is false or unfair.

And if CNN published specific falsehoods, identify them and correct them. “They lie about me” shouldn't by itself settle what restrictions the government may impose on the press.

That's the constitutional question the court is now being asked to decide.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

There is a legitimate story here, but “IT'S PAID!” goes beyond what the investigation establishes.

Fox documented that established socialist/communist organizations helped organize and amplify the Austin protest within hours of the ICE shooting. There are also documented financial relationships between some organizations in this broader activist network and Neville Roy Singham, a wealthy American living in Shanghai who has expressed support for the Chinese Communist Party.

Those are facts worth reporting.

But evidence that organizations receive funding and organize protests ≠ evidence that the protesters themselves were paid to attend.

Fox's investigation documents coordination, organizing and financial networks. I haven't seen evidence establishing that the people who showed up in Austin were paid protesters or that China directed this particular demonstration.

If there's evidence showing protesters were actually paid to attend, that's the receipt that would establish the claim.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

Funny analogy, but that's really an illustration of redistribution, not socialism.

Taxing someone's income and transferring some of that revenue to someone else can happen in a capitalist economy—the U.S. has done that through various tax and benefit programs for generations.

Socialism generally refers to social or government ownership/control of the means of production, not simply “you earned $20, government taxed $10 and someone else received a benefit.”

There's a legitimate debate over how much taxation and redistribution is appropriate. But calling redistribution itself “socialism” skips that distinction.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

Depends what you mean by “lower than 2022.”

EIA has regular gas at $4.48 nationally this week. That's lower than the extraordinary June 2022 peak of $5.01.

But the average for all of 2022 was $3.95, and gas ended 2022 at $3.09.

So today's gas is lower than the 2022 peak, but higher than the 2022 annual average and about $1.39/gallon higher than it was at the end of 2022.

Comparing today's price only with the highest week of 2022 leaves out quite a bit of context.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

The numbers Mullin cited are real, but they don't establish what this post says they establish.

Mullin said DHS has 1,620 open cases, 151 arrests and more than 300,000 additional suspected cases being reviewed. He specifically said DHS is still “scrubbing” those records to determine who is a citizen, legal permanent resident or otherwise ineligible.

So 300,000 under review ≠ 300,000 confirmed noncitizens who voted.

There are confirmed allegations worth investigating and prosecuting where the evidence supports them. But I also haven't seen a partisan breakdown showing whom these alleged illegal voters voted for.

If someone has evidence establishing that they overwhelmingly voted Democratic, post it. The numbers being cited here don't show that.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

California gas prices are absolutely higher than the rest of the country, but that's a different question from why prices recently increased nationwide.

California is currently around $6.00–$6.14 for regular versus roughly $4.44 nationally—about 38% higher, not 60%.

EIA attributes California's longstanding premium to higher state taxes and environmental-program costs, its special gasoline formulation, an isolated fuel market and refinery constraints. Those policies and their costs are fair game for debate.

But California's own Energy Commission says the sharp increase since the Iran war began was primarily driven by the surge in global crude-oil prices. In fact, California's increase since Feb. 28 has been roughly in the middle of the range among states.

Why California usually costs more and why everyone's prices just went up are two different questions.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

There are some factual problems with this argument.

D.C. has historically voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Puerto Rico is much harder to characterize—and “4% Republican” isn't a valid measure of how Puerto Rico would vote in a presidential election because Puerto Rico doesn't currently participate in the presidential general election.

In fact, Puerto Rico elected Jenniffer González-Colón, who is nationally affiliated with the Republican Party, governor in 2024 with about 41% of the vote. Puerto Rico's local party system also doesn't map neatly onto the Democratic/Republican divide.

If Puerto Rico and D.C. became states, they would receive two senators each. But that doesn't mathematically make another Republican president “impossible.” Trump won the 2024 Electoral College 312–226, and future voting patterns aren't fixed.

There's a legitimate debate over retaining or eliminating the filibuster. But the argument should be based on what statehood would actually do, not unsupported assumptions about how millions of future voters would vote.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

I'm not sure I follow.

I'm not arguing that the U.S.—or any other country—should reduce petroleum consumption.

My point was much narrower: the number of refineries isn't the same thing as refining capacity.

The U.S. has fewer refineries than it did in 2008, but EIA data show greater total refining capacity today. Recent closures have reduced some of that capacity and can affect prices, but they don't by themselves explain the current spike.

This was an explanation of what's affecting fuel prices, not an argument for reducing oil consumption.

[Receipts Matter @ReceiptsMatter]

There's a lot of rhetoric here, but two of the underlying developments are very real.

The new Greenland agreement gives the U.S. permanent military access, additional basing rights and substantial security authority. But Greenland remains under Danish sovereignty and retains its right to self-determination. The U.S. did not acquire Greenland.

The Venezuela deal also really does involve roughly 65 billion barrels of proven reserves and substantial U.S. economic/governance rights. But that isn't the same as America owning 65 billion barrels outright or having “taken control of Venezuela.” Venezuela remains a sovereign country, and developing those fields will require enormous investment and time.

“Cuba is on the verge of collapse” and “soon we won't need China or the Middle East” are predictions, not established facts.

These are significant geopolitical developments without turning them into territorial acquisitions or assuming they eliminate America's dependence on the rest of the world.

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Solyndra absolutely was a costly failure. DOE guaranteed $535 million, more than $500 million was disbursed, and taxpayers ultimately lost more than $500 million when the company failed.

But it wasn't a Green New Deal project. Solyndra applied for the federal loan-guarantee program in 2006, received its guarantee in 2009 and went bankrupt in 2011. The Green New Deal resolution wasn't introduced until 2019.

The loan-guarantee program itself was created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 during the Bush administration, then substantially expanded by Obama's 2009 Recovery Act.

Criticize Solyndra on the facts—there's plenty there to criticize—but attaching it to a policy proposal that didn't exist until roughly a decade later rewrites the timeline.