Three federal firefighters died Saturday in a Mesa County burnover on the Snyder Fire — single-digit humidity, 45-mph gusts, and fuel moisture below eight percent grounded air support and cut off their escape. The Snyder Fire now covers 28,000 acres at zero percent containment.
On Capitol Hill, House leadership pulled H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, from the floor June 25. The DAV and VFW rejected cuts to tinnitus and sleep apnea ratings used to fund the Major Richard Star Act — a benefit owed to 54,000 combat-injured veterans. No reschedule date is set.
In federal court, the Second Amendment took a split. The Fifth Circuit ruled June 18 that suppressors are constitutionally protected arms. The Ninth Circuit ruled the opposite fifteen days earlier. The same criminal statute, two irreconcilable answers — now a formal circuit split for the Supreme Court to resolve.
Gold fell to $4,081 per ounce, down $1,516 from its January high, after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh held rates and raised inflation projections. Markets now price an 80-percent chance of a December hike.
The DOJ’s California election fraud push produced zero charges and eleven consecutive court losses in its voter roll campaign — the only documented federal legal action in the record.
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