Rand Paul Takes the Fort Knox Tour Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky went to Fort Knox in northern Kentucky on Monday to inspect America’s gold, a sentence that sounds simple until you remember this is Washington’s money vault, not a neighborhood coin jar. According to the U.S. Mint, the last full audit of America’s gold reserves stored at Fort Knox took place in 1953, with a partial audit in 1974. That long gap has helped fuel rumors over the years, including claims that the gold had somehow been swapped for gold-plated tungsten. Paul went underground to see the gold for himself and said the visit was also about a larger issue: what happened to the dollar after the United States separated it from gold in 1971. The Message Before He Went Underground Paul said the country has about 147 million ounces of gold, with about half of it stored at Fort Knox. Before heading down, he said he wanted to talk about what happened to the dollar after 1971, arguing that more than 85 percent of its value has been lost since the dollar was de-linked from gold. He also took aim at the polite modern phrase “affordability,” saying the…

McKinney Residents Turn Out, City Hall Votes Anyway McKinney, Texas, a fast-growing northern Dallas suburb, is now at the center of a heated fight over a proposed Islamic center. Residents packed the August 4, 2026, city council meeting to speak against the project, according to the source report. After the public comments, the council voted 7-0 to approve the plan. That is not a close call. That is city hall moving like it already knew where the chairs were going before the meeting began. The Project Is Not Small The McKinney Islamic Association sought approval for a larger campus on roughly 5 to 5.5 acres along Virginia Parkway, near residential neighborhoods and a high school. Approved plans include a 15,000-square-foot mosque, a 10,000-square-foot classroom building, and a 7,000-square-foot gym. The total project has been described as roughly 33,000 square feet. For residents worried about traffic, scale, and neighborhood impact, this was not exactly a backyard shed with a fresh coat of paint. A Sharia Survivor Warns the Council One speaker identified in reports as Eddie Isa, also referred to as Eri Issa or Edwin Isagholi, described himself as an Iranian-born Christian and a “Sharia law survivor.” He told the council,…