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Site: Public Discourse
In Changing Places, the first novel in his campus trilogy, David Lodge has his characters at Euphoric State University play a party game called “Humiliation.” The players are literature professors, and a turn in the game is played by naming a literary work one has not read, and finding out which of the other players has read it—the more of them that have done so, the more points one earns. You can see that naming an obscure work will not earn many points, and so the winner is the one who humiliates himself by naming prominent works that most—perhaps all—of the others have read. Hence the name of the game; it’s “a kind of intellectual strip poker,” says one of the characters. In one memorable round of the game, a professor immolates his career in spectacular fashion.
I feel like a player in Lodge’s game when I think of all the famous books I haven’t read. This is particularly so where classics of conservatism are concerned. I have been an outspoken conservative since the 1980s—a reader and in more recent decades a contributor to conservative publications, which has not always endeared me to academic colleagues—but because for years my teaching duties and research occupied much of my reading time, I can think of quite a few landmarks of conservative thought that I still have not read. Some of them I have had in my library for years but haven’t found time to read. (See Umberto Eco on having many unread books in one’s possession.) Now I have the time, and I plan to write here occasionally about some of these books I’ve finally gotten around to.
The first such book is Witness, by Whittaker Chambers. I own a first printing—and have had it so long that I don’t remember where I bought it—but it has no value as a collector’s item, because there are many just like it. Chambers’s memoir was one of the bestselling books of 1952. It was reviewed everywhere, topped the New York Times list that summer, and was even a main selection of the Book of the Month Club—an agent’s and author’s dream in those days.
Who was Whittaker Chambers? In the course of his life he was a student of language and literature, a translator (of Bambi, among other works), a member of the American Communist Party and a writer and editor for the party’s press, an “underground” agent passing U.S. government information to Soviet military intelligence, a writer and editor for Time magazine, a farmer, and (after 1955) a notable early contributor to National Review. (For other writings representing his varied career, see this volume edited by the late Terry Teachout.) His memoir is titled Witness because that was what Chambers became in 1948—a key witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), testifying with firsthand knowledge about Communist infiltration of the government, especially regarding former State Department official and then-president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Alger Hiss. The crisis of that testimony occupies roughly the final third of the book, the rest being devoted to the author’s early life and education, his years as an “open” Communist and then a clandestine agent of Stalin’s Russia, and his break with Moscow and recovery of something like a normal life.
I have previously praised historian Allen Weinstein’s book Perjury: The Hiss–Chambers Case as “unputdownable”; I read it years ago, and thought I knew all I needed to know about the case, and about Whittaker Chambers, so I didn’t bother to read Witness, which sat right next to Perjury on my shelves. How wrong I was. Witness is an absolutely absorbing work, a self-examination as candid and cataclysmic as St. Augustine’s Confessions or St. John Henry Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua. Like those saints, Chambers records the experience of a conversion. Two conversions, really: the first brought him into the Communist Party in the mid-1920s, full of idealism and convinced that only the Revolution could save a world in crisis, and the second brought him out again, full of revulsion at Stalin’s great Purge in the late 1930s, and convinced that he, Chambers, had become a servant of “absolute evil.” Here is a glimpse of that searing experience, and a taste of the author’s writerly gifts:
What I had been fell from me like dirty rags. The rags that fell from me were not only Communism. What fell was the whole web of the materialist modern mind—the luminous shroud which it has spun about the spirit of man, paralyzing in the name of rationality the instinct of his soul for God, denying in the name of knowledge the reality of the soul and its birthright in that mystery on which mere knowledge falters and shatters at every step.
Chambers had the courage to hope, and to act—first to save his family and then to warn his country. But hope, as we must remind ourselves, is not optimism; it is inseparable from a faith that all will be put right in the end, though that ultimate justice arrive long after our own brief span. Chambers found his faith and hope, worshiping in a Friends Meeting, but he was no optimist. When he took his young family and fled from the party in 1938, he writes, he “knowingly chose the side of probable defeat.” At the time he wrote Witness, three years after testifying against Alger Hiss, Chambers seems still to have believed that the Cold War struggle of the West with the Communist powers could more easily be lost than won. He may have believed this to the end of his life, at age 60, in 1961.
One thing that surely fed Chambers’s pessimism was that in 1939 he had told a high appointee in the State Department of the espionage he knew about, and had named names—to apparently no effect whatever. When he was called to testify to HCUA in 1948, his testimony that Alger Hiss had been and might still be a Communist sparked outrage in the establishment Left—outrage not at Hiss but at Chambers himself. For months, while testifying to both Congress and a grand jury, he had a reasonable fear that he might be indicted for perjury, as Hiss denied everything. Hiss even sued Chambers for defamation—a huge gamble on the former’s part, it turned out, based on an arrogant belief that the latter could not make good on his accusations.
But Chambers had initially held something back, at first accusing Hiss only of having been a clandestine Communist in the government’s employ. He and Hiss had once been good friends, whose families knew each other, and a kind of tenderness restrained Chambers for a time. But Hiss forced his hand, and Chambers finally revealed that Hiss had actually engaged in espionage for the Soviets. When he produced the proof, in the form of documents Hiss had passed to him that Chambers had kept for a decade, Hiss’s world came crashing down. He could not be charged with espionage due to a statute of limitations, but he was convicted of perjury and sent to prison. Amazingly, for three-quarters of a century, Hiss (who died in 1996) has continued to have defenders on the left; I’m aware of two books published since 2000 that claim he was framed, though revelations from the Soviet and FBI archives have made the case against him airtight.
Why did New Deal partisans—whose own patriotism is not in question—deny, dismiss, or obfuscate Hiss’s guilt? I think it was in part a defense against shock—a reflexive disbelief that a darling of the liberal establishment (Supreme Court clerk, congressional staffer, high diplomat at Yalta, Bretton Woods, the United Nations)—could be a traitor to his country. In part it can be explained by a “no enemies to the left” attitude, in which Communists appeared to be simply progressives in a hurry, but not really a threat to the American way of life. And many just recoiled from having to admit that the FBI or HCUA or (of all people) Richard Nixon, one of the committee’s most dogged members, could be right about something.
But the middlebrow reading public, less given to ideological blindness, made Witness a bestseller—partly serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, featured by the Book of the Month Club, snapped up by the thousands in bookstores across the country. In its 799 pages a man bared his soul and wrote movingly of his own failings, his loves and hates, his moments of terror and despair, even his attempted suicide. And it all has the ring of truth.
As I said, Witness was reviewed everywhere, and by notable figures. The liberal anti-Communist philosopher Sidney Hook, in a three-page review for the Sunday New York Times Book Review, accepted Chambers’s testimony against Hiss as altogether truthful and had much praise for his memoir. But Hook was repelled by Chambers’s deeply religious outlook on the crisis of the West, and faulted him for not seeing that “genuine American liberals” too opposed Communism because of their “opposition to all forms of authoritarianism.” Hook’s model liberal was John Dewey, who had indeed done much to bring attention to the outrages of Stalin’s Purge; but as Allen Weinstein tells us, Dewey had disbelieved Chambers’s charges against Hiss because he “had difficulty in bringing himself to believe that the Russians operated a widespread espionage network in the United States.” It was perhaps just too awful to contemplate.
The British writer Rebecca West reviewed Witness for the Atlantic Monthly. She too believed the author’s testimony against Hiss, and had more sympathy than Hook did for Chambers’s forebodings about liberalism’s ability to save itself. What amazed and appalled West was that Chambers could still affirm that his first conversion, to Communism, had been idealistic, not cynical or self-interested, and that he regarded this as true of Communists generally. West complained that Chambers “makes on their behalf a staggering claim to priority as idealists,” responding that in her view “Bolshevik Communism” was an altogether “hard-boiled” ideology concerned only with its own elite’s “monopoly of political power.” But Chambers had anticipated West’s response in his book, writing that Communism’s opponents “suppose it is greedy only for power, and not the revolutionary ends which that power has in view. In that lies the danger of underestimating the force of faith that moves the enemy.”
The great theme of Witness is its other witness. Beyond the testimony of a man that he had once betrayed his country, and knew of others who had done so, is the testimony of a human being who has passed through a fire and lived, though scorched and scarred for life, and has come to believe that there is authentic freedom only under God, not in rebellion against his works. Whittaker Chambers twice committed himself to faiths he thought worth dying for; the first was a tragic error, and the second a hard-won redemption.
Image by Ryan and licensed via Adobe Stock.
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Site: Zero HedgeThe California Bullet Train Is A Good Lesson In Political DeceptionTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 19:40
Authored by William Anderson via The Mises Institute,
This week, my wife and I have traveled Amtrak’s route to and from Bakersfield, California, with the Amtrak line running down the state’s Central Valley past cities like Fresno and Modesto. As our train sped down the tracks at speeds of up to 83 mph, we could see construction of the much-hyped boondoggle known simply as the California Bullet Train.
Much has been written about the proposed (and proposed really is an understatement) project, which is supposed to run entirely by electricity created from renewable resources. In 2008, California voters approved a bond issue of $9.9 billion to determine the feasibility of the proposed high-speed railroad that would link San Francisco and Los Angeles with a then-$33 billion price tag. I have weighed in myself on this project and its spiraling costs (the present estimated total cost being $135 billion…and rising), writing:
If one tries to make sense of an exercise in spending billions of dollars for a Train to Nowhere, one cannot use conventional financial logic. There is a logical process at work, but it is a logic of a different sort than what appeals to a typical reader of this page. Political logic, especially in a state like California where progressive politics dominates, veers sharply from economic and business logic.
But what does the Central Valley have to do with linking the two California cities, both of which are on the Pacific coast far away from the likes of Bakersfield and Fresno?
There already exists a rail link between LA and San Francisco, but it is the slow-moving Amtrak that must make its way through the Coastal Range that runs down the western part of the state.
(An aspiring rail rider would board a CalTrans train from San Francisco to San Jose, then hop aboard Amtrak’s Coast Starlight there as it passes through once a day).
It seems that the promoters of the Bullet Train also are having to bow to the state’s varied geography, which brings us back to construction in the Central Valley. As we looked out the window in the brand-new Amtrak passenger cars recently manufactured for the San Joaquins route, we saw huge concrete viaducts in various stages of completion between Bakersfield and Merced—and that was all the construction we would be able to see, since there is no construction anywhere else on the proposed route.
Understand that no private firm would build a railroad like this because it could never recoup its original costs.
The current projected outlay of $135 billion almost surely will grow, as the project continues to miss its goals and run into more difficulties. It will be mathematically impossible for the rail line ever to turn a profit, even if it ever is completed—which is highly doubtful.
This leaves us with the line between Bakersfield and Merced, which is not scheduled for completion before 2030 and probably won’t be available until 2033. To understand the absurdity of the whole thing, one should remember that this original Bakersfield-Merced line is being built first because it has the friendliest geography—the Central Valley being flat—which means the trains can run for miles on straight tracks, avoiding the hairpin turns through the mountains that would be a feature elsewhere in the state.
(I have ridden Amtrak many times in California, including going over the Sierra Nevada and in and around the Coastal Range south of San Jose. High-speed rail could not function in these places).
But, even given the flat terrain, much of the Bakersfield-Merced line will have to run on huge concrete viaducts that are extremely costly and will take years to complete. To put it another way, if the lowest-hanging fruit for a rail line has been extremely costly, think what will be the case if they ever try to carve a path around and through the mountains that surround Los Angeles.
To put it another way, as we looked at the ongoing construction of this rail line, we were not looking at success, but rather a huge governmental failure. One would think this would be obvious to nearly everyone, but when California Governor Gavin Newsom and local politicians dedicated this rail line, the rhetoric was so delusional that it was comical. Here are some snippets:
Members of the community and Gov. Gavin Newsom gathered in Kern County where the initial operating segment is taking place. Leticia Perez, chairwoman of the Kern County board of supervisors, said that this project is important for residents of California’s rural Central Valley, providing a 171-mile system from Merced to Bakersfield.
“What is represented today is a game changer, a transformative moment for the Kern County workforce - our access to UC Merced, our access to other parts of the state,” Perez said.
“As a resident of Fresno County, the high-speed rail built right here in the valley has been a dream come true,” said Structures Superintendent Anthony Canales who has been working on the project since 2015. “This is not just a transportation program; it’s a transformation project.”
However, the Central Valley already has passenger rail courtesy of Amtrak and if what we saw on our trip with near-empty cars is an indication of the Amtrak ridership of that area, one seriously doubts that high-speed rail—while a curiosity—will make a difference for people in that valley. The local political rhetoric notwithstanding, even if this monstrosity is completed, it won’t be a “game changer” but rather a conversation piece at best.
The longevity of this failed project is a testament both to political inertia and to the love affair that progressives have with both central government economic planning and especially the high-speed rail. It is a massive malinvestment that is saddling California with huge debts that its taxpayers—most of whom will gain no benefit from the bullet train—will have to shoulder in the future. Those politicians and politically-connected contractors most responsible for this boondoggle will gain the benefits (and get to ride for free), while the victims will have to pay.
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Site: Zero HedgeHegseth Threatens Iran Over Houthi Support: 'You Will Pay'Tyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 19:15
The start of this week began badly for the Pentagon, as it revealed it had 'lost' a fighter jet in the Red Sea amid the ongoing Yemen bombing campaign. A US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet "fell overboard from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier while it was being towed on board" - the US military said, and supposedly while the large carrier was making an evasive turn amid inbound Houthi drones or missiles.
The Houthis have been celebrating this as a 'win'. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has on Thursday put Iran on notice, alleging close support from Tehran to the Houthis, saying it 'will pay'.
Via Associated Press
Hegseth addressed the Iranians in a fresh message on X, saying: "We see your lethal support to the Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing."
"You know very well what the US military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the consequence at the time and place of our choosing," he continued.
Hegseth as part of the message shared a screenshot of a prior Trump post on his Truth Social, originally written in mid-March, in which the president charged that Iran is "dictating every move" the Houthis make as well as providing arms and intelligence.
"Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of Iran," the president wrote at the time.
But the Islamic Republic has firmly rejected the accusations, highlighting that the Houthis are a political and military movement which acts independently and makes its own decisions, especially on the battlefield.
"Ansar Allah (the Houthis), as the representative of the Yemenis, makes its own strategic decisions, and Iran has no role in setting the national or operational policies of any movement in the resistance front," Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami said soon after the US renewed its bombing campaign on March 15.
The Houthis have pledged not to stop attacks on Western warships in the Red Sea as well as Israel, so long as Israel's military remains active in Gaza. The Red Sea conflict started again almost immediately after the Hamas-Israel ceasefire and hostage exchange deal collapsed.
International shipping through the vital water-way has been essentially blocked for well over a year, and the industry has been forced to adjust. Russian and Chinese commercial vessels have been allowed safe-passage by the Houthis.
https://t.co/DKl55mmFaT pic.twitter.com/vsVttencfH
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) May 1, 2025Hegseth's fresh threat toward Iran strongly suggests the Iran debate is still alive and well within the administration. Trump has been urging Iran to sign a fresh nuclear deal or else face possible bombing campaign by the US, and likely Israel. Hegseth has previously been reported to be on DNI Tulsi Gabbard's side - against the hawks and desiring climb-down in terms of Iran tensions.
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Site: LifeNews
Elon Musk is the rare figure whose interests become worldwide trends. So is the case with global infertility. On his X feed, Musk has called attention to the West’s plummeting birth rates: “Low birth rates will end civilization,” he wrote recently. His shorthand post drew over 47 million views.
Musk is right, entirely right, about global infertility. For generations, leftist ideologues have driven whole societies into abject panic over “climate change,” indoctrinating scores of ordinary people into an ideology we call anti-natalism. This reverse morality emphasizes the virtue of not marrying, not having children, and — by all means — not having lots of children. (Bonus points if you key a Tesla after buying your $14 asparagus at Whole Foods.)
In his inimitable way, Musk has made it his mission to oppose anti-natalism. (On this subject, here’s a compelling presentation I heard in London that thoroughly substantiates the peril of global infertility.) He is right to do so. As Christians, we know that God loves life. We know that God called Adam and Eve and all successive posterity to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). We know that God has set up creation — in a wonderful and almost mystical way — to renew itself, produce fresh crops each year, and feed an ever-growing planet.
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Resources are not scarce in God’s creation; resources are abundant. Humanity is not a pestilence, but the race that bears God’s image. As believers, then, we can be thankful for Musk’s counter-cultural courage. Yet we cannot end the conversation over anti-natalism there. According to a recent profile by The Wall Street Journal, Musk has fathered at least 14 children by four women.
As Christians, this is not the way to overcome global infertility. In biblical terms, the answer to anti-natalism is this: to build families. This might sound like semantics: “You say have children, I say build families. It’s all the same!” With respect, however, these two approaches are not the same. God’s design for humanity is not to scatter children across the earth like grain, unfathered and largely unknown. Nor are children primarily gambits in a great struggle to fight off paganism, secularism, or Islam. Children, Solomon wrote, are a gift (Psalm 127:3).
Solomon gives us the starting point for a biblical worldview of children. Children are a blessing from God. Beyond this, we know that every boy and girl is a sinner in need of the gospel of grace. Yet the gospel is not something we shout at our kids; the gospel is woven into all our discipleship efforts. Our boys and girls need a great deal of attention, forgiveness, discipleship, training, correction, discipline, and mercy.
The work I am describing is costly work. It is self-sacrifice from start to finish. But we must never let the narrative about family-building center in drudgery and gloom and fear. Parenting is oriented around the cultivation of living beauty; it is the stuff of wonder. In a world that all too often reads children as a curse, we nurture them in hope, love, and faith, always pointing them to Christ, never walking away from them, intentionally choosing to savor all the many happy moments each day brings.
In the final analysis, absentee fatherhood is not a cure for what ails us. In truth, absentee fatherhood is a force multiplier of untold damage to communities, as I’ve explored in this book. Because of this, while many of us agree wholeheartedly with Elon Musk that anti-natalism is wrong, we do not simply encourage people to have children. Facing the specter of death that shadows children at every turn today, we embrace the much harder and much more rewarding approach of Scripture: we build families.
LifeNews Note: Owen Strachan is Senior Fellow for FRC’s Center for Biblical Worldview.
The post Hey Elon Musk. Building a Family is Better Than Just Having Kids appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeTether Plans US Stablecoin Launch As Soon As This Year; ReportTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 18:50
Authored by Alex O'Donnell via CoinTelegraph.com,
Tether plans to launch a stablecoin product in the United States as soon as this year, the stablecoin issuer’s CEO, Paul Ardoino, said in an April 30 CNBC interview.
Tether’s flagship stablecoin, USDt, is already the US dollar’s top “exporter,” Ardoino told CNBC.
It has a market capitalization of nearly $150 billion, according to data from CoinGecko.
Now, Tether is preparing to expand into the US market “by the end of this year or early next year, at the fastest,” Ardoino said, adding that the timing depends on US lawmakers’ progress on stablecoin legislation.
The stablecoin issuer is working to woo US regulators by proactively collaborating with law enforcement and highlighting USDt’s benefits for the US economy.
"We are just exporters of what we believe to be the best product the United States ever created — that is, the US dollar,” the CEO said.
Tether's USDT has 66% of the stablecoin market share. Source: Nansen
Market leader
As of April 25, USDt commanded a roughly 66% market share among stablecoins, according to Nansen, a Web3 researcher.
Tether is also the most profitable stablecoin issuer, logging a net income of nearly $14 billion in 2024.
It earns revenue by accepting US dollars to mint USDt and then investing those dollars into highly liquid, yield-bearing instruments such as US Treasury bills. Still, USDt’s popularity is largely limited to users outside of the United States, where rival stablecoin USDC is dominant.
Tether designed USDt “for the people that live in small villages in Africa... [or] a shop owner in Istanbul,” Ardoino told CNBC, adding that Tether is developing a “different product” for the US.
Adoption of USDC has accelerated in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s November election win, Nansen said in an April 25 report. Circle’s USDC has a market capitalization of more than $60 billion, CoinGecko data shows.
However, USDt is still likely to maintain its leading position in the stablecoin market. “Despite the potential dispersion in stables, we inevitably believe this is a ‘winner-takes-most’ market dynamic,” the Web3 researcher added.
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Site: LifeNews
In recent times, Coloradans appear to be facing the weight of policies that attack their First Amendment rights.
Earlier in April, state Democrats launched a full assault on free speech through HB25-1312 — legislation that seeks to classify “misgendering” and “deadnaming” as forms of abuse. But while Coloradans grapple with threats to their free speech, another policy shift undercuts their religious and moral convictions. Governor Jared Polis (D) officially signed SB25-183 into law, effectively forcing taxpayers to fund abortions.
With the stroke of a pen, Polis weaponized Amendment 79, transforming a political agenda into a crushing taxpayer burden. Mere weeks ago, thousands of Colorado pro-lifers encircled the state capitol, fiercely defending the sanctity of life. Yet, Polis — dismissing their convictions — claims this fulfills the “will of voters to strengthen access to reproductive care.” Now, pro-lifers’ own tax dollars are being funneled to fund abortions, the very procedure they passionately oppose.
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The legislative vote was almost perfectly split among party lines. All Republicans opposed the legislation, while all but one Democrat was in favor. Before now, Section 50 of Article V of the Colorado Constitution had prohibited using public funds to fund abortions. But as The Christian Post reported, “Section 50 has now been repealed from the state constitution after 62% of voters approved Amendment 79 in the 2024 election.”
As such, the outlet added, “Amendment 79 established a right to abortion in the state constitution and allowed abortion to be covered in health insurance plans for state and local government employees as well as those enrolled in state and local government insurance programs.” The legislation “appropriates $1.5 million in state taxpayer funds to pay for abortion reimbursements.”
Furthermore, cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment were previously the only instances allowing reimbursement for “abortion care services,” as the fiscal note stated. But under the newly enshrined Senate Bill 25-183, the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing is required to use taxpayer dollars to cover abortions for anyone enrolled in Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus programs. This law also prevents Colorado from helping out-of-state or federal investigations that try to punish people or groups for providing abortions.
In response to the bill passing, before it was officially signed, a group of Colorado bishops sent an open letter, pleading for the governor to veto the bill. “Every human life, from conception to natural death, is a sacred gift from God. No act of law can change this truth, nor can it erase our moral obligation to defend the most vulnerable among us. The allocation of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to subsidize the deliberate ending of innocent life is a tragedy for Colorado.”
The letter continued: “Rather than using state resources to support life-affirming alternatives … this bill instead prioritizes public funding of abortion at the expense of the lives of preborn children, the health of their mothers and the conscience rights of millions of Colorado taxpayers who morally object to abortion. We urge you, Governor Polis, to consider the millions of Coloradans who do not want their hard-earned tax dollars to be used in the destruction of human life. We call upon you to veto SB 183.”
Evidently, the governor did not heed their pleas and instead boasted about signing it. Following his signature, Polis lauded the new legislation. “In the Free State of Colorado,” he said, “we are protecting Coloradans’ healthcare freedoms, while leaders in DC and across the country are focused on bringing government between doctors and patients, overreaching into our families and lives. This past November, Coloradans from every walk of life overwhelmingly voted to enshrine reproductive freedom into our constitution.”
Additionally, Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie (D) claimed this bill cuts costs because “a birth is more expensive than an abortion.” However, as Family Research Council’s Director for the Center of Human Dignity Mary Szoch told The Washington Stand, “McCulskie’s comments are disgusting.”
She continued, “Taxpayers in Colorado will now be forced to pay for killing the most innocent among us.” As Szoch emphasized, “In the United States, most people stopped placing dollar amounts on persons lives after the Civil War — and that practice is acknowledged as one of the greatest sins of America.”
“Every person has value beyond measure,” she concluded, and “House Speaker McCluskie should be ashamed to be part of such an evil act.”
LifeNews Note: Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand, where this originally appeared.
The post Colorado Forces Taxpayers to Fund Abortions Up to Birth appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeUS House Passes Resolution To Stop California From Banning Gas-Powered CarsTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 18:25
The U.S. House of Representatives passed (245-164) Rep. John Joyce's (R-PA) H.J. Res.88, a resolution blocking the Biden Environmental Protection Agency's waiver that would let California ban petrol-powered cars and trucks and force dystopian electric vehicle mandates nationwide.
H.J. Res. 88 seeks to overturn a Biden-era EPA decision that granted California a waiver to ban the sale of new petrol-powered vehicles by 2035. This mandate would've had massive ripples far beyond the progressive state's borders, forcing automakers to comply nationwide with EV mandates, thus leading to a surge in driving costs for all working families. Without intervention, California's toxic climate policy could effectively dictate EV mandates nationwide.
"Today, the House passed RepJohnJoyce's H.J.Res.88 to reverse a Biden-era regulation that requires all of the vehicles in America to be emission-free," House Republicans wrote on X, adding this repeal would be some of the first steps in "reversing Biden's disastrous EV mandates and giving power back to consumers to decide which cars they want to drive."
Today, the House passed @RepJohnJoyce’s H.J.Res.88 to reverse a Biden-era regulation that requires all of the vehicles in America to be emission-free.
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) May 1, 2025
House Republicans are reversing Biden’s disastrous EV mandates and giving power back to consumers to decide which cars they… pic.twitter.com/lc63WUKD4hAs of May, eleven U.S. states have adopted California's plan to phase out the sale of gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles. These states include New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, New Mexico, Colorado, and Virginia. Together, these states account for about 40% of the U.S. auto market.
"Proud to see my bill to protect consumer choice in the automobile market pass the House in a bipartisan fashion," Rep. Joyce wrote on X.
The Republican representative from Pennsylvania noted, "Congress cannot allow California to set national policy. I urge my Senate colleagues to pass this legislation so @POTUS can protect the freedom of the open road for the American people."
Proud to see my bill to protect consumer choice in the automobile market pass the House in a bipartisan fashion.
— John Joyce, M.D. (@RepJohnJoyce) May 1, 2025
Congress cannot allow California to set national policy. I urge my Senate colleagues to pass this legislation so @POTUS can protect the freedom of the open road for… pic.twitter.com/1S5QDg3YwmDismantling California's EV mandates is a top priority for President Trump. This week, the Western world was served a sobering reminder of the consequences tied to the aggressive march toward net zero death:
NatGas Generators Rescued Spain From Net Zero Death After Power Collapse https://t.co/NAthNQjTJY
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 30, 2025Action on the measure now moves to the Senate.
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Site: Zero HedgeWhat We Know About The Illegal Immigrant Allegedly Helped By A Wisconsin Judge To Evade ICETyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 18:00
Authored by Janice Hisle and Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times,
The man arrested by immigration authorities in Milwaukee - despite a Wisconsin judge’s alleged attempt to shield him - is being held in a neighboring county’s jail as controversy continues to swirl around the case.
Eduardo Flores Ruiz, 30, was locked up in the Ozaukee County Jail awaiting further court action as of April 30.
He is accused of injuring three people in a recent domestic dispute, online records show.
The Mexico native is the defendant whom Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of assisting in an April 18 incident at the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
Flores Ruiz appeared at the court for a hearing on that date, but it didn’t proceed, federal authorities say, after Dugan allegedly took actions to thwart Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers who were poised to arrest the defendant and begin deportation proceedings.
Federal officials accuse the judge of helping Flores Ruiz and his lawyer to exit through a restricted-use door. Officers, however, were able to arrest him after a foot chase outside the courthouse.
He was previously deported to his home country in 2013, before being accused in the domestic violence case that was assigned to Dugan, officials said.
The state Supreme Court suspended Dugan while she contests charges of concealing Flores Ruiz and obstructing ICE.
Dugan, who was arrested on April 25, is set for her next court hearing as a defendant on May 15 in Milwaukee federal court.
This 2016 photo shows Judge Hannah Dugan in Milwaukee, Wis. Lee Matz/Milwaukee Independent via AP
Milwaukee County court and police records reveal more information about the incident that landed Flores Ruiz in Dugan’s court on three domestic abuse-battery charges.
Three people told police that Flores Ruiz injured them during a March 12 verbal and physical altercation, after which two of them sought hospital treatment.
Miguel Mendoza-Figueroa alleged that Flores Ruiz “intentionally ... struck him multiple times in his body and face, causing pain and scratches during a verbal argument about loud music,” the police report says.
The man reported being punched about 30 times.
When Deyci Torres Sierra, identified as Miguel’s girlfriend, tried to intervene, Flores Ruiz “struck her multiple times in her head” with his fist, inflicting pain, the report says.
A second woman, Maria Sierra Chihuahua, said she, too, tried to break up the fight, and Flores Ruiz “elbowed her in her upper left arm.”
Police said that, when questioned at the scene, Flores Ruiz described the incident as “a mutual fight” between himself and Mendoza-Figueroa, a court record shows.
The defendant is set to appear on the three charges in the county court again on May 14. Each of the charges is a Class A Misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction by a fine of up to $10,000 and nine months behind bars.
Dugan remains in online records as the judge assigned to his case, despite her temporary suspension from duty. The Epoch Times was unable to reach the court’s chief justice for clarification.
The Epoch Times sought comment from Flores Ruiz’s lawyer, Mercedes de la Rosa, and the local prosecutor handling the case, Kylan Reilly, and received no reply prior to publication.
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Site: Zero HedgeApple Slides On China Sales Slump And Soft Service Revenue, Despite Tariff Frontrunning Revenue Boost And New $100BN BuybackTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 17:42
Ahead of Apple's earnings report this afternoon, which concludes the results from big 4 group of the Mag 7 (including MSFT, META and AMZN) UBS said that sentiment was a 5/10, with the bank's analyst expecting some pull-forward offsetting soft demand, while creating tougher 2H compares with the consensus too optimistic. UBS, which has a $210 price target, reiterated its $210 price target (Neutral) warnings that although the rich valuation remains a perennial overhang, sentiment is more cautious given the ongoing tariff and market share headwinds. The bottom line: with the mild short bias ahead of the print, there was a decent chance for a tactical bounce due to pull-ins, but probably not enough to alleviate the ongoing concerns.
And sure enough, 30 minutes after AMZN disappointed with lackluster AWS profit margins and a soft operating profit forecast, it would be 2 for 2 for the bears, with AAPL stock sliding on disappointing China sales even as tariff fears sent iPhone purchases across the world into overdrive. Here are the details:
- Adjusted EPS $1.65 vs. $1.53 y/y, beating estimate $1.62
- Total revenue $95.36 billion, +5.1% y/y, beating estimate $94.59 billion
- Products revenue $68.71 billion, +2.7% y/y, beating estimate $67.84 billion
- IPhone revenue $46.84 billion, +1.9% y/y, beating estimate $45.94 billion
- Mac revenue $7.95 billion, +6.7% y/y, beating estimate $7.75 billion
- IPad revenue $6.40 billion, +15% y/y, beating estimate $6.12 billion
- Wearables, home and accessories $7.52 billion, -4.9% y/y, missing estimate $8.05 billion
- Service revenue $26.65 billion, +12% y/y, missing estimates if $26.72 billion - this was the first red flag.
The second, and even bigger, red flag was the usual suspect: China, where revenues unexpectedly slumped, sliding 2.3%, while Wall Street was expecting a mid-single digit growth
- Greater China rev. $16.00 billion, -2.3% y/y, missing estimates of $16.83 billion
Going down the line:
- Total operating expenses $15.28 billion, +6.3% y/y, higher than estimate $15.17 billion
- Gross margin $44.87 billion, +6.1% y/y, higher than estimate $44.58 billion
- Cash and cash equivalents $28.16 billion, -14% y/y, missing estimates of $32.73 billion
- Cost of sales $50.49 billion, +4.1% y/y, higher than estimate $50.23 billion
And so on:
Looking at a breakdown of sales by product category it was a generally solid report, although that was to be expected as a result of pulled forward demand for iPhones ahead of tariffs which would likely push prices sharply higher. Here are the details: .
- IPhone revenue $46.84 billion, +1.9% y/y, beating estimates $45.94 billion but much of this was due to pulled forward sales ahead of tariffs
- Mac revenue $7.95 billion, +6.7% y/y, beating estimates of $7.75 billion, same logic here
- IPad revenue $6.40 billion, +15% y/y, beating estimates of $6.12 billion
- Wearables, home and accessories $7.52 billion, -4.9% y/y, big miss to estimate $8.05 billion
Bottom line, while most segments came in stronger than expected, much of this will likely reverse in Q3 when tariffs push prices higher (because tariffs are inflationary right), meanwhile, Apple’s wearables segment (where one can find the Vision Pro disaster) remains a big disappointment, and the new low-end AirPods and hearing features for the AirPods Pro apparently did not draw much interest.
Here is the full revenue breakdown by product:
But if iPhone sales was solid (if transitory) the devastation that is China sales was catastrophic: contrary to expectations for a modest rebound, as China sales declined for a seventh consecutive quarter, down 2.3%, and printing at only $16BN, below the $16.9BN estimate.The rest of the world saw growth, modest in the Americas at 8.2%, and stronger in Japan and APAC, while Europe barely grew.
And in dollar terms:
Needless to say, China continues to be a very weak spot for Apple and the company hasn’t done much to push new products, pricing and initiatives in that market -- or other emerging areas -- to offset the issues. The weakness there, which Apple will try to explain away in its conference call, is because of a combination of nationalism and interest in local products, whose designs are getting better. The local players are also trying new things like foldables while Apple continues to use the same design it rolled out five years ago. Oh, and Trump's trade war which is getting worse by the day, isn't helping.
The result: revenues declining now for an unprecedented 7 quarters!
There was more: Service revenue, which for many years was the only golden goose left in AAPL's roster, is starting to sputter, and even though it rose to a new record $26.65 billion, this missed estimates of $26.72 billion and the growth rate was the lowest in two years.
The company has been contending with multiple challenges, beyond just the looming tariffs. Apple is playing catch-up in artificial intelligence, forcing it to shuffle management in recent weeks. It’s also under mounting regulatory pressure in the EU and its home country. On Wednesday, a federal judge demanded that the company open up its App Store to third-party payment options and stop charging commissions on outside purchases.
But tariffs remain one of the biggest question marks. Though Apple is likely to sidestep the 145% China levy that the administration originally proposed, new tariffs on electronics are still coming. The turmoil threatens to upend the company’s supply chain and potentially force it to raise prices. Already, Apple is looking to make more of its US-bound iPhones in India rather than China. Ironically, it was tariffs that helped the company revenues beat estimates as customers flooded Apple retail stores to buy new iPhones and other products out of fear that price hikes were coming.
In the press release, CEO Tim Cook tried hard to stay positive, but failed.
“Today Apple is reporting strong quarterly results, including double-digit growth in Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We were happy to welcome iPhone 16e to our lineup, and to introduce powerful new Macs and iPads that take advantage of the extraordinary capabilities of Apple silicon. And we were proud to announce that we’ve cut our carbon emissions by 60 percent over the past decade.”
The bigger problem is what he said on the conference call, where it said that he hadn't seen excess pull forward demand in Q1 (it did)...
- COOK: DIDN'T SEE EXTRA DEMAND IN MARCH QUARTER ON TARIFFS
... and pretended not to know what the tariff impact will be:
- COOK: NOT SURE WHAT TARIFF IMPACT WILL BE AFTER JUNE QUARTER
Trump's tariff policy may be unclear to Cook, but what is clear to everyone, is that growth for AAPL is slowing fast:
- *APPLE CFO: Q3 REVENUE TO GROW LOW TO MID-SINGLE DIGITS YOY
Which was the same guidance as the current quarter, and the market is starting to realize Cook isn't sandbagging... instead the debate what is the right multiple on a company that has now officially flatlined. To be sure the kneejerk reaction was not happy, with AAPL stocks sliding about 3% after hours, the second consecutive quarter in which the market punished AAPL earnings, to just above $206 after closing today at the highest price since Trump's Liberation Day.
Not even the news that the iPhone maker authorized a new $100 billion stock buyback and boosted its quarterly dividend 4% to 26 cents a share, was enough to prop up the stock.
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Site: OnePeterFive
The current neo-Modernist crisis marring the Mystical Body of Christ has left many of its members disillusioned. According to Pope Paul VI, the Second Vatican Council was supposed to signal “a day of sunshine for the history of the Church.”[1] As of 2025, though, it is clear that the majority of Catholics are apostates who have abandoned Christ and set their sights on the world.
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition sent out an Action alert on April 30, after the New York state Assembly passed the assisted suicide bill by a 81 to 67 margin.
On April 24, the New York Post published an editorial opposing the legalization of assisted suicide. Here is what the New York Post published:
New York’s progressive legislators have reportedly gotten behind what may be their most morally disgraceful bill yet: an assisted-suicide legalization push.
Worse, per Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), the bill has the votes to pass, which may happen as early as next week.
This must. Not. Happen.
Assisted suicide is sold to the public as a form of compassion — yet another inversion of reality.
In practice, it is anything but.
The trouble is, the promised reservation of assisted suicide to the chronically ill and elderly seems somehow always to get expanded.
Until it encompasses young, physically healthy people like Zoraya ter Beek, whom the Dutch state permitted to take her own life because she was depressed.
Or, as is the case with Canada, the poor, the disabled and the marginalized.
Like Alan Nichols, a down-on-his-luck man with a history of mental illness who listed “hearing loss” as the only health reason for his own euthanasia — which, shockingly, was then granted.
The Trudeau government even tried to sell veteran and paralympian Christine Gauthier on suicide, simply because she fought to have the Veterans’ Affairs department install a wheelchair ramp at her house.
The idea that fiscal calculations, i.e. that it’s cheaper simply to kill people like Nichols and Gauthier than to help them, didn’t play some role here is dubious, at best.
In the US, Oregon — the pioneer on OKing this insanity — is already mulling the idea of expanding the class of people authorized to prescribe suicide drugs to include nurse practitioners and vastly shortening the wait time from 15 to two days.
Vermont might include literal quacks on the list of people allowed to help people kill themselves.
It’s the slipperiest of slippery slopes, in other words.
And a slap in the face to the nearly 3 million Catholics in the state who oppose assisted suicide on religious grounds.
And this is New York, remember, where the state couldn’t even manage to roll out a legal cannabis initiative without turning it into a complete disaster.
And where within recent memory, a governor shoved old people with COVID into nursing homes to die and kill others just to make himself look better on television and earn $5 million from a book.
Even under the sanest and stablest of governments, state-sanctioned euthanasia is obscene.
Here, it would be a Boschian nightmare.
Gov. Hochul, this issue is an easy win: Keep fighting the good fight, stand up to the extremists in your own party and stop this madness if and when it reaches your desk.Previous article on this topic:
Action is needed: New York state Assembly passes assisted suicide bill (Link).
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Site: Zero HedgeWalmart Increases Support For USA-Made ProductsTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 17:20
At a time when American consumers are increasingly interested in what products are actually "Made in the USA"—as evidenced by a recent report showing a surge in related internet searches—the nation's largest retailer announced plans this week to boost its support for American-made goods through new initiatives.
Walmart has launched a new initiative called "Grow with US," offering tools and support to small businesses, especially those producing American-made goods. The program is designed to strengthen the U.S. economy, which is largely driven by small businesses.
"We're unveiling Grow with US, a new program designed to provide U.S. small businesses with the training, mentorship and resources they need to grow with Walmart," Walmart's U.S. CEO and president, John Furner, wrote in a press release.
The CEO pointed out that over 60% of Walmart's U.S. suppliers are small businesses. With the ongoing trade war with China, domestic sourcing for the mega-retailer might increase. Currently, the Trump administration has 145% tariffs on all Chinese goods entering the U.S.
"More than 40 years ago, Mr. Sam set a priority that still drives us today: supporting American-made products and the small businesses behind them. Simply put, we want small businesses to work with Walmart, but we know getting started can feel complex," the CEO said.
At the start of March, Furner announced a new commitment: "First, we're announcing a new commitment: over the next ten years, Walmart will spend an additional $350 billion on items made, grown or assembled in the U.S. We estimate that this spend will support more than 750,000 new American jobs."
Walmart's expanded commitment to America's thousands of small businesses offering domestically produced goods is fantastic news as the Trump administration works to restore the nation's manufacturing base via a trade war with China to re-shore critical supply chains that will be needed before the 2030s kick-off.
In line with Walmart's commitment to "Made in the USA," we're proud to launch a new partnership this Friday with the Beef Initiative. The goal is to connect consumers with mom-and-pop ranchers producing clean, locally sourced beef that aligns with the "Make America Healthy Again" protocols. This grassroots effort aims to help rebuild America's mom-and-pop ranchers and farmers one beef cut at a time: Shop Clean Beef.
Let's remember that none of this would have been possible without President Trump's relentless push to reshore supply chains and rebuild America's hallowed manufacturing core. There will be plenty of opportunities ahead—right here at home.
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
This was adapted from an RPI subscriber update. Subscribe here for free and see it first.
The long-debated “minerals deal” was finally signed between the US and Ukraine late Wednesday, after a months-long, whiplash-producing back and forth between the two parties. In the end, Wednesday started with an affirmation that the deal would be signed, then by mid-day we were told that the Ukraine government aircraft turned around mid-flight and the deal was off, and then later in the afternoon the deal was finally actually signed. That is the chaos that is Trump 2.0 foreign policy in these early days of the Administration.
The “minerals deal” that was eventually signed was billed as a miraculous breakthrough, an amazing journey from the dramatic confrontation between the US president and vice president and Zelensky in the Oval Office just weeks ago, to the point where President Trump can raise high his trophy: the signed minerals deal for which an enormous amount of US diplomatic effort has been spent!
But the deal signed Wednesday in no way resembles the original “rare earths” deal touted by President Trump just a few weeks ago. Recall that when first launched this “deal” was a way for Ukraine to “pay back” the United States for $350 billion in assistance as calculated by the Trump people. The number is only accurate if one goes back to the US-backed coup in 2014, and, ironically, through the first Trump term (where for the first time offensive weapons were provided), and past the Biden largesse after Russia’s launch of its “special military operation” in February of 2022.
And it was a payback in the “rare earths” minerals said to be so critical to our technological society that had heretofore been supplied by “adversaries” like China for which many in the Trump foreign policy team were preparing to target as soon as they solved the Ukraine issue.
The great negotiator Trump was to secure the “rare earths” minerals from Ukraine that would for certainty be withheld or forbidden when the real strategy of “confronting” China was put into place.
But it’s all kabuki theater. First off, Trump people dropped the demand that US aid to Ukraine to the tune of a third of a trillion dollars needed to be paid back. That was the backbone and rationale of the deal in the first place. No, just days ago it was determined that we would start with a clean slate with Ukraine.
Once again – as with the “Liberation Day” tariff war – maximalist demands were made, proved incredibly disruptive, and then were inexplicably reversed suddenly days later.
“Just kidding.”
And now that the “minerals deal” was finally signed to great fanfare, it turns out that it was not about “rare earths” minerals at all. As Energy and commodities columnist at Bloomberg Javier Blas reported, after looking at the radically restructured “rare earths” deal posted on X, the “deal” is primarily about “oil, natural gas and a bit of aluminum.” He added, “And the critical minerals? Rare earths?”
Even the supposed harsh terms turn out to be a paper tiger:– The US has no say under the agreement on when or what gets extracted in Ukraine
– Both countries invest equally into an ‘investment fund’
– No debts for past aid are acknowledged
– The US will not see a single dollar from the investment, in the best circumstances, for 10 YEARSWe’ve seen this movie before. Stealing oil from Syria and Iraq with negligible benefit to American citizens that was initially touted as a way to pay them back for our financing regime change wars. But only the well-connected Beltway parasites were well-paid.
The ludicrous “rare earths minerals deal” is a microcosm of how absurd the Trump Administration’s policy has been on the US/Russia war through proxy Ukraine in the first place.
One of the most dangerous and counter-productive additions to the new “minerals deal” is a provision that US military assistance shipped to Ukraine will go into the joint investment fund on the plus-side of the US ledger. In other words, this “breakthrough” has opened the door for the US to return to the Biden policy of endless weapons supplied to a nearly supine nation…with a promise to “pay you back” once minerals are extracted from what remains of Ukraine soil. This will serve to prolong the war that Trump claims he wants to end.
As longtime analyst Brian Berletic – with a solid track record of accuracy – wrote last week, “Today, the US government is attempting to play the role of a frustrated mediator trying to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia, when in reality this was always a war between the US and Russia.”
Perhaps driven by hubris and an obsession with vainglory, President Trump is desperate to be able to take credit for “solving” a completely fictional Ukraine/Russia war. Any doctor worth his salt would tell you that there is no way you can treat the disease if you misdiagnose the symptoms, but here we are with an Administration hypnotized by the neocon-created fantasy of a sudden attack – without antecedent – by Russia on its neighbor as a blatant land grab mixed equally with a desire to express bestial cruelty.
The only way they can sell this neocon fever dream is to reimagine Russian President Putin as a kind of golem-like figure who suddenly wakes up in the morning and decides who and how many to kill that day.
In fact this entire chapter of post-Cold War US foreign policy is defined by a desperate search for relatively easy dragons abroad to slay while sharpening our fangs to take down rival number two, Russia, with an eye on rival number one, an ascendant China.
But something happened on the road to unipolar victory: through the bad joke called NATO, the US threw everything in its arsenal short of nuclear weapons at Russia in Ukraine and it lost. In a United States thankfully defended by a wonderful geography of two protective oceans, it may be hard for our fellow citizens to understand what an existential war may look like.
Indeed, even WWII was a kind of crusade to save Europe from its own excesses. We were never threatened by Hitler or any of his riff-raff. Jews were totally safe in the US.
Russia on the other hand came to know up close and personal the murderous intent of the Nazis, and for the Soviet Union it was a matter of life and death – and we are talking tens of millions of lives – that savage Hitler with his view that Slavs were untermensch to be eliminated must be defeated.
Life or death. Americans have not faced that since, arguably, the Civil War.
So here we are in an absolutely AI kind of artificial reality where the early Trump 2.0 Administration is expending extraordinarily amounts of political, diplomatic, and other multi-layer efforts to maintain a fiction that Trump can wave his wand and remove animosity between Ukraine and Russia when all the time it was the US who was at war behind the shadows.
As the process becomes increasingly less attuned to the reality on the ground – thanks in large part to a reverse Walter Durranty-level fantasist called “General Kellogg” who for some bizarre reason continues to dominate the debate with his asinine “plan” published with neocon Fred Fleitz last April – Trump’s chimeric admonitions to his Russian counterpart to “just stop shooting” belie a kind of desperation that is doomed to fail. And he knows it.
Russia is fighting for its survival. Neocons are surfing on Ukrainian blood to “take down” Russia.
That’s it. That’s the war.
So how can President Trump square this ginormous circle and escape the traps and spider webs woven for him by all the neocons he has again hired to direct his foreign policy?
Ron Paul is often dismissed as jejune for his bons mots like “we just marched in we can just march home.” However in systems analysis many times it turns out that the simplest solution is the best solution. President Trump can end the war in Ukraine in a day (as he once promised) by simply announcing that it is not his war and he will no longer have anything to do with it.
That means no shuttle diplomacy with absurd plans, no more Steve Witkoff trafficking in Kellogg’s gilded turds. Simply a recognition of reality: literally no American who voted for Trump to save them from Biden’s inflation and woke tyranny could give a flying fornication who rules Ukraine or how it gets along with Russia. Polls back this idea as well.
To win Ukraine, Trump must wash his hands, Pontius Pilate-like, of the whole affair.
The neocons who have again steadied their swagger in Trump 2.0 love to revise the “peace through strength” mantra, as if they are the heirs of Reagan. But the real strength that brings on peace is the strength to stand up to all the Beltway neocons and desktop warriors and say, “enough.”
“This is not my war and I want to have nothing to do with it. Americans elected me to bring jobs to Middle America, not to pursue a crusade for the bloodthirsty neocon elite who fantasize of using American might to right all their perceived historical wrongs.”
America first is the real and only solution to the Ukraine problem. -
Site: Zero HedgeSyria Unravels Further As Jolani's Army Attacks Another Religious MinorityTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 17:00
Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com,
Sectarian fighting in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana left dozens killed, and Israel is already looking to parlay that into a new excuse for military action against the Syrian government, with the idea that they need to "protect" the Druze minority militarily.
The Israeli military reported attacking the Damascus suburb of Sahnaya, and that they targeted an “extremist group” that was planning new attacks on the Druze. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz issued statements demanding the Syrian government take action to prevent further attacks on the Druze.
Via AFP
Details of the strike are still scant. Indeed, Syria’s Interior Ministry said they had yet to receive word that the Israeli attack even took place at all. Since Israel launches a large number of attacks inside Syria regularly, it’s not necessarily improbable that they launched one on Sahnaya, but it appears not to have been particularly large.
Israeli Army chief Eyal Zamir has threatened to carry out attacks across Syria if the attacks on the Druze don’t stop, and said that he has ordered his staff to prepare for targets in Syria to that end.
By lining up Druze youth and shaving their mustaches, Jolani’s forces didn’t just humiliate, they struck symbols. For the Druze, it’s religious.
— Karim Franceschi (@karimfranceschi) May 1, 2025
But among Kurds, the mustache is more than pride: it’s ancestry, masculinity, defiance. It links the living to the martyred. This was… pic.twitter.com/9xE2ELVL52Though the HTS has already promised investigations into what happened Tuesday in the Druze community in Jaramana, it’s not clear Israeli threats will mean much at any rate, since Israel is already actively attacking Syria at any rate, and this is just the latest pretext for continuing that.
Also, using the Druze as an excuse isn’t even new, it’s more being revived. In early March, a smaller clash in Jaramana led to Israel similarly vowing to protect the Druze, imposing a ban on all Syrian military assets south of Damascus, and offering to give Syrian Druze in the newly occupied parts of Syria "work permits" to go into Israel to work, an offer that was later rescinded.
Jolani’s HTS regime rounds up #Druze in #Sahnaya, beating and accusing them of being fighters, echoing tactics used in Alawite massacres, where civilians were labeled 'Assad remnants’ #Syria pic.twitter.com/8PjmyRpw4g
— HK (@HKX37) April 30, 2025Israeli Druze are going along with this, carrying out a demonstration near Acre which Israeli police declared "illegal". Druze make up about 2% of Israel’s population, and about 3%-4% of Syria’s population, centered mainly on the Suwayda Governorate.
Tuesday into Wednesday gunbattles were fueled by an audio clip which went viral online. The audio was of someone insulting the Muslim Prophet Muhammed, and was purported to be a Syrian Druze person speaking. It has not been verified that was actually the origin.
ISIS fighters have been able to join the New Syrian General Security forces, it seems.
— Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) May 1, 2025
Many of the fighters in Sadnaya and other suburbs of Damascus yesterday had accents from Deir ez-Zor, pronouncing the letter "kaf" as "cha". The word kabir becomes chabir. This does not mean… https://t.co/ADGEFxE0aEIndeed, many people are speculating this was an effort at "incitement" against the Druze minority in Syria, and it certainly seems to have worked, at least for a time.
Syria’s Islamist government has promised to investigate this possibility, and some are suggesting it may be an external effort to fuel unrest within Syria.
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Site: Zero HedgeAmazon Tumbles On Soft AWS Revenue, Disappointing Profit ForecastTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 16:39
Ahead of Amazon's earnings, and following two blowout results from the first two giga-cap companies MSFT and META, UBS said that the "fast money seems to be short Amazon into the quarter on AWS and North America sales growth, with no upward revisions on the print." Meanwhile, the longer duration money "continues to like the story around AWS reacceleration, potential EBIT upside to Street, compelling valuation and potential AI theme around core ecommerce." In short, there was a tension between the short-term traders and long-term HODLers.
Judging by the kneejerk reaction to Q1 earnings just released, the short-termers were right, with the stock dumping after reporting mixed Q1 earnings but it was the guidance that was really disappointing.
Here are the details:
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EPS $1.59 vs. $1.86 q/q, beating estimate $1.36
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Net sales $155.67 billion, +8.6% y/y, beating estimates of $155.16 billion
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Online stores net sales $57.41 billion, +5% y/y, beating estimates of $56.85 billion
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Physical Stores net sales $5.53 billion, +6.4% y/y, beating estimates of $5.41 billion
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Third-Party Seller Services net sales $36.51 billion, +5.5% y/y, missing estimates of $36.98 billion
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Subscription Services net sales $11.72 billion, +9.3% y/y, beating estimates of $11.65 billion
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North America net sales $92.89 billion, +7.6% y/y, beating estimate $92.63 billion
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International net sales $33.51 billion, +4.9% y/y, beating estimate $33.07 billion
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Third-party seller services net sales excluding F/X +7% vs. +16% y/y, beating estimate +6.92%
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Subscription services net sales excluding F/X +11% vs. +11% y/y, beating estimate +8.86%
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So far so good (with some exceptions).
But what first caught the market's attention first was Amazon's AWS revenue, which came in just below estimates:
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Amazon Web Service net sales $29.27 billion, +17% y/y, missing estimates $29.36 billion
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Amazon Web Services net sales excluding F/X +17% vs. +17% y/y, also missing estimates +17.2%
Turning to operating profits, here the results were uniformly solid:
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AWS operating profit 39.45%, up sequentially from 36.83% and smashing estimates of 35.25%
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Operating income $18.41 billion, +20% y/y, beating estimate $17.51 billion
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Operating margin 11.8% vs. 10.7% y/y, beating estimate 11.2%
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North America operating margin +6.3% vs. +5.8% y/y, missing estimate +6.65%
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International operating margin 3% vs. 2.8% y/y, beating estimate 2.96%
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As for fulfillment expenses, these came in slightly above estimates, while the seller unit mix was slightly worse than expected. These will likely rise quite a bit in a tariff regime:
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Fulfillment expense $24.59 billion, +10% y/y, higher than estimate $23.78 billion
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Seller unit mix 61% vs. 61% y/y, worse than estimate 61.8%
Of the above, the most notable highlight - as per our preview - was AWS which grew revenue by 17% to $29.27BN, just below the sellside estimate of $29.36BN, and the first notable slowdown in the topline in two years.
Still, if revenue growth for AWS was a bit light, the record 39.5% margin more than offset it, beating estimates of 35.35%. Elsewhere, North American profit rose to $5.84 billion, resulting in a profit of 6.29%, if below the estimate of 6.65%. Meanwhile, international margins rose to 3.30% from 3.03%.
As a result of the jump in AWS profits, Amazon's consolidated operating margin continued to grow impressively and in Q1 grew for a 4th consecutive quarter to a new all time high of 11.8%.
However, while the above data was mixed if generally solid, it was the company's guidance that led to an after hours drop in the stock; that's because the company projected profit and revenue in the current quarter both of which were seen as coming in soft vs Wall Street expectations:
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Sees net sales $159.0 billion to $164.0 billion, in line with the estimate of $161.4 billion
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Sees operating income $13.0 billion to $17.50 billion, below the estimate $17.82 billion, vs $14.7 billion in Q2 2024.
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Guidance sees impact of about 10 basis points from FX
If accurate, that would mean that after revenue grew at the slowest pace since 2022 in Q1, the outlook sees revenue growth post a modest improvement, rising just over 9% in Q2.
But again, it was the subpar operating income forecast that was the big disappointment.
In response to the soft guidance and the disappointing AWS revenue growth, the stock initially pumped but then dumped...
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Site: Zero HedgeThe Trump Counterrevolution & The Moral LedgerTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 16:15
Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,
Despite the media hysteria, Trump’s counterrevolution remains on course.
Its ultimate fate will probably rest with the state of the economy by the November 2026 midterm elections.
But its success also hinges on accomplishing what is right and long overdue—and then making such reforms quietly, compassionately, and methodically.
No country can long endure without sovereignty and security—or with 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants crossing the border and half a million criminal foreign nationals roaming freely.
The prior administration found that it was easy to destroy the border and welcome the influx. But it is far harder for its successor to restore security, find those who broke the law, and insist on legal-only immigration. Trump is on the right side of all these issues and making substantial progress.
Everyone knew that a $2 trillion budget deficit, a $37 trillion national debt, and a $1.2 trillion trade deficit in goods were ultimately unsustainable.
Yet all prior politicians of the 21st century winced at the mere thought of reducing debts and deficits, given that it proved much easier just to print and spread around federal money. As long as the Trump administration dutifully cuts the budget, sends its regrets to displaced federal employees, seeks to expand private sector reemployment, and quietly presses ahead, it retains the moral high ground.
The elite universities have long hidden things from the American people that otherwise would have lost them all public support.
They deliberately sought to neuter Supreme Court rulings banning race-based preferences by stealthily continuing their often-segregated policies on campuses, from admissions and hiring to dorms and graduations.
They have taken billions of dollars from autocracies, such as communist China and Qatar. And they have partnered abroad with their foreign illiberal institutions and then disguised their quid pro quo subservience.
These supposedly prestigious universities have previously made no real effort either to stop or even hide their own campus epidemics of anti-Semitism.
They have spiked their tuition and costs higher than the annual rate of inflation, assured that the tottering $1.7 trillion guaranteed student loan portfolio would always send them guaranteed cash flows.
They have gouged taxpayers by charging exorbitant surcharges on federal grants from 40 to 60 percent. And they make no effort to offer students intellectual, ideological, or political diversity.
So, even our most prestigious universities seem to have no real moral compass. Accordingly, as long as Trump retains the high ground, the public, too, will demand either reform in higher education or a cessation of federal support to it.
The economy remains strong, but its ultimate health depends on reaching a trade deal with a handful of nations that account for our $1.2 trillion trade deficit in goods: China, the EU, Canada, Mexico, the Southeast Asian trade bloc, and Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.
These nations all know that their tariffs are not symmetrical. But our trade partners will not willingly change. They apparently, but wrongly, believe that the U.S. either welcomes its trade deficits, naively thinks they’re irrelevant, or is too wedded to libertarian trade ideology to demand accountability.
So, too, on trade, the Trump administration is in the right.
Its only challenge is to avoid envisioning tariffs as a new, get-rich source of massive revenue. Data does not support the idea of such large tariff incomes.
The American people signed on for symmetry, fairness, and reciprocity in trade, not tariffing those who run deficits with us or seeing high tariffs as a cash cow to fund our out-of-control government.
Enraged Democrats still offer no substantial alternatives to the Trump agenda.
There are no shadow-government Democratic leaders with new policy initiatives. They flee from the Biden record on the border, the prior massive deficits and inflation, the disaster in Afghanistan, two theater-wide wars that broke out on Biden’s watch, and the shameless conspiracy to hide the prior president’s increasing dementia.
Instead, the Left has descended into thinly veiled threats of organized disruption in the streets. It embraces potty-mouth public profanity, profane and unhinged videos, nihilistic filibusters, congressional outbursts, and increasingly dangerous threats to the persons of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
All that frenzy is not a sign that the Trump counterrevolution is failing. It is good evidence that it is advancing forward, and its ethically bankrupt opposition has no idea how, or whether even, to stop it.
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Site: PeakProsperityThe GDP contraction was mainly due to tariffs while the labor market is slowing down and retail investors are coasting on a sea of complacency.
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Site: LifeNews
The Washington Stand reported in detail on Monday on a massive new study of U.S. women who have consumed the abortion pill. The study is the first in a planned series from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that describes itself as “the premier institute working to apply the riches of the Jewish and Christian traditions to contemporary questions of law, culture, and politics, in pursuit of America’s continued civic and cultural renewal.”
The study of nearly 866,000 abortions procured by use of the prescription drug mifepristone is the largest of its kind to date and full of findings that, its authors say, should prompt action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review and address the high rate of serious complications the drug inflicts on women.
The study is significant in many ways in addition to the size of the study population. First, it covers a sample of women who have taken the drug in recent years, whereas prior safety and efficacy studies date back a decade or more. The EPPC study examined the impact of the drug under the loose conditions that have actually prevailed in the past decade. These conditions, as prior investigators have warned, include deletion of multiple medical visits originally recommend by the FDA, the use of “no test” protocols designed to confirm pregnancy and to assure it is not ectopic, online distribution of the pills, and use for at least three and sometimes more weeks later in pregnancy than when the drug was originally approved in the year 2000. Mifepristone is known to become less effective and more hazardous for women as the pregnancy proceeds.
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Mifepristone now dominates abortion provision in the United States, constituting nearly two-thirds of the procedures carried out in the country. It is tailor-made for a laissez-faire national policy on abortion as our already weak system of abortion incidence and injury reporting makes tracking safety especially difficult when women experience harms and are treated not by the medical personnel who have supplied the drug but by third parties who may be unaware of or misinformed about their medical history. In its first 16 years, mifepristone harms, including injuries and deaths, were subject to mandatory reporting to the FDA. In 2016, that mandate was lifted, and the FDA required the reporting of harm only when use of the pill led, as it sometime does, to a maternal fatality.
The EPPC study, like a few smaller predecessors, gets around this challenge by accessing deidentified claims data for individual women, where a medical history pre- and post-use of mifepristone could be statistically tracked and tallied. The 865,727 abortions studied involved 692,873 women because of repeat mifepristone abortions on some of the patients. EPPC paper authors Jamie Bryan Hall and Ryan T. Anderson report that the women were broadly representative of the U.S. female population and were not prescreened for inclusion in the observational study. Nearly one-fifth of the study population had multiple mifepristone abortions.
The results are striking and of such magnitude as to warrant prompt and thorough FDA review. The study found that 10.93% of the women who took mifepristone experienced a serious adverse event. The sequelae examined included sepsis, infection, hemorrhage, need for blood transfusion, hospitalization, emergency room (ER) visits related to the abortion, need for a surgical abortion due to incomplete abortion, and other abortion-specific complications. The highest specific count of injuries and percentage of cases with serious adverse events were ER visits (40,960, 4.73%), hemorrhage (28,658, 3.31%), need for surgical abortion (24,563, 2.84%), infection (11,707, 1.34%), and ectopic pregnancy (3,062, 0.35%). The authors note that some women suffered more than one of these conditions.
The EPPC study is the largest of its kind to date and is also notable for its inclusion of claims data from a variety of sources, and not just a single insurer or agency. The claims data was obtained from a commercially available source and is presumably available to other researchers for further studies. The database included “information on hospital and office visits, diagnoses, procedures, and prescriptions processed through private health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.” It did not include transactions where the provider — like an HMO — is also the insurer, or cases where the abortion transaction was in cash. This is a common analytical framework according to the authors and allowed for longitudinal tracking of the information in the study.
In broad terms, the EPPC study tracks with prior attempts, primarily by Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), to analyze Medicaid claims data in search of adverse events. CLI (Studnicki et al.) reviewed Medicaid claims data for mifepristone use from 1999 to 2015 (therefore not overlapping with any of the EPPC study population). The study found a sharp increase after 2002 in the rate of ER visits following ingestion of mifepristone. The study was published in a peer-reviewed journal, reached a wide audience, and was praised by a publication editor as “fine” work. After the study’s findings were cited by attorneys in a case that ultimately reached the Supreme Court, politically-motivated critics influenced the journal to retract the study and two others, unrelated topically, by the same authors.
One criticism worthy of discussion regarding any study of adverse reactions to a medication or procedure is whether the injuries involved are truly serious. A critic of the CLI study suggested ER visits not be considered serious if the woman’s reasons for going to the ER were precautionary and not substantive. This triggered another study by Studnicki et al., published in the International Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health Research in September of last year. The study focused on ER visits within 30 days of a pregnancy outcome — whether a chemical abortion, surgical abortion, or live birth — and compared them to ER visits by women who were not pregnant. Among other findings, using standard codes to identify the acuity of a condition leading to the ER visit, the Studnicki study found, “The likelihood of an [Emergency Department] visit with a severe or critical acuity code following the use of abortion drugs was more than twice as high as that of women who were not pregnant.”
In November 2024, Jonathan Abbamonte of The Heritage Foundation Center for Data Analysis published a study using another data source regarding emergency room use. The report drew upon public access data available for various time periods from South Carolina, New Jersey, and Arkansas. Abbamonte points out that only a few states make free public access data available for their emergency departments (a policy that health advocates might do well to seek installing in states that have limited data from this source). His data cover South Carolina from 2016-2023, New Jersey (a generally abortion information-limiting state) from 2016-2022, and Arkansas from 2019-2021. Abbamonte concluded that ER visitation rates have increased in these states due to complications from induced abortions since the FDA removed the in-person medical visit requirement in 2020-2021. The Heritage study also found evidence that reported miscarriage rates in those states also increased, an indication that misreporting of abortion drug use as miscarriage, as some pill providers recommend, may be occurring.
Overall, then, evidence continues to accumulate that abortion drugs, administered without medical evaluation, distributed by mail, and consumed under conditions (e.g., 11 weeks of pregnancy) outside even today’s lax FDA requirements, are causing disproportionate harm, both in absolute terms and relative to surgical abortion. The recent statement from FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary that FDA intends to take no action on the harms of mifepristone is premature and worrisome. The harms of this drug have now been identified in states that fund abortions with their own Medicaid funds (Studnicki), in a cross-section of insurance contexts including public and private programs (Hall, Anderson), and emergency room data in states with diverse abortion policies (Abbamonte).
Congressional committees and the FDA should take an exhaustive look at these findings. The data at issue are available for second and third looks by other scholars as well. The well-being of both women and the unborn merit renewed efforts to ascertain the truth about a drug with such a questionable risk profile.
LifeNews Note: Chuck Donovan is a 50-year veteran of the national debate over the right to life and served from 1981-89 as a writer in the Reagan White House.He is the former Executive Vice President of Family Research Council.
The post The Abortion Pill is Injuring Tens of Thousands of Women. Where are the Feminists? appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LifeNews
In a further effort to end the Biden-Harris administration’s weaponization of the government, the Trump administration announced it will “aggressively” prosecute acts of violence of vandalism against pro-life pregnancy resource centers and churches under a law regularly used to jail pro-life advocates. While pro-life experts welcome the change in orientation, they say the law should be repealed entirely.
The 1994 Federal Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, punishes anyone who “intentionally damages or destroys the property of a place of religious worship” or any facility “providing reproductive health services” with a $10,000 fine and up to six months in jail for a first conviction. Yet for 31 years, the law has been used almost exclusively against pro-life advocates, ignoring the spate of domestic terrorism plaguing pro-life pregnancy resource centers and churches.
“The only violence being done in recent years is to the law and to the rights of speech and of prayer of people of faith of people who want to pray … outside abortion facilities,” Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told “The Glenn Beck Podcast” last Saturday. All facilities offering prenatal care, including pro-life pregnancy resource centers, “are protected by the FACE Act, and so we will be aggressively going after” vandals and violators of the law. “Those facilities have been violently attacked by activists with no action by law enforcement, federal or state.”
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The Biden administration ignored attacks on churches. In all, Family Research Council scholar Arielle Del Turco documented 436 attacks against churches in just the first 11 months of 2023. The number of church attacks had increased 800% over six years. “There have been zero — zero — prosecutions under the FACE Act for that violence,” noted Erin Hawley, senior counsel and vice president at the Alliance Defending Freedom, at a hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government last December. FRC noted 39 assaults specifically against pro-life churches in the five months between the leak of the Dobbs decision in May 2022 and that October.
Not including threats and other forms of harassment, FRC recorded 67 acts of violence and vandalism against pro-life pregnancy centers as of May 2023, and 24 attacks targeting pro-life organizations between Politico’s publication of the draft decision and the following January.
“Since the start of the Biden-Harris administration until May 2024, the DOJ had brought a total of 24 FACE Act prosecutions against 55 defendants, with only two of these cases concerning attacks on pregnancy resource centers. To this day, the FACE Act has never been used in defense of a church since it was passed in 1994,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told the subcommittee, which he chairs.
The Trump administration has already taken action to protect houses of worship from being closed by hostile protesters. Anti-Israel activists blocked the entrance to the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles last June. In March, President Trump’s Justice Department filed a statement of interest in the case, noting it did so “to promote the correct and uniform interpretation of [the FACE Act] protecting access to places of religious worship.” Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Mac Warner said, “Every person should be free to worship and attend religious services without fear of violence, threats, or intimidation,” adding that the Trump administration “is working vigorously to combat antisemitism using all of the tools at our disposal.”
“It’s great DOJ officials under Trump are committed to undoing the harms of the Biden administration’s unjust use of the FACE Act against peaceful pro-life protestors. We have also heard Trump administration officials commit to using the FACE Act in a more proper way, to fairly prosecute violent offenders regardless of political affiliation,” Del Turco, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at FRC, told The Washington Stand. “In the long run though, we need to repeal laws that are ripe for dangerous partisan weaponization, which is how the FACE Act has been used under past administrations. The FACE Act should be repealed so no future administration or radical judge can punish American citizens for peacefully expressing disfavored political or religious views.”
Rev. Jim Harden is the CEO of CompassCare, a PreBorn! Partner Pregnancy Clinic, which was among the facilities that were firebombed. “For three years, CompassCare has endured the valley of intense and ongoing battles against private activists and public bad actors simply so we can continue protecting the right to serve women and save babies from abortion,” Harden told TWS. “The recent promise to prosecute terrorist acts against Christian pro-life pregnancy centers like CompassCare from the new Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon feels like we are watching the reinforcements riding in.”
The Biden-Harris administration often conjoined the FACE Act penalties with felony charges under the “Conspiracy Against Rights” provision of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 to impose years of imprisonment on pro-life advocates. The Trump administration pardoned 23 pro-life advocates wrongfully imprisoned by the Biden-Harris administration and dropped three pending FACE Act prosecutions.
In January, the Trump administration announced it will only enforce the statute in “extraordinary circumstances” such as cases involving “death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage,” wrote Chad Mizelle, chief of staff to the attorney general, in a January 24 memo to the Justice Department. “Cases not presenting significant aggravating factors can adequately be addressed under state or local law.”
In January, Roy, a pro-life stalwart, reintroduced the FACE Act Repeal Act (H.R. 589), legislation he previously introduced in 2023. In January, the Texas conservative told “Washington Watch” that, as long as it remains on the books, future Democratic administrations will use the FACE Act as “a political sword … a sword against pro-lifers.”
Harden noted that the Biden-Harris administration’s Assistant Attorney General Kristan Clarke was vehemently opposed to Christian pro-life pregnancy centers and was also pro-Antifa. “The hundreds of attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers carry the fingerprints of Marxist Antifa that so commonly piggyback on left-wing causes (i.e. BLM, environmentalism, transgenderism, pro-Palestine movement, and abortion) designed to destabilize and undermine America’s constitutional rule of law,” Harden remarked. “This was not a grass-roots protest.”
In December 2023, the Biden administration solicited a guilty plea from Whitney M. Durant, a socialist activist who identifies as transgender and uses the name “Soren Monroe,” to violating the FACE Act when she spray painted defamatory statements such as “Abort God” and “LIARS” on HerChoice (also known as the Bowling Green Pregnancy Center) in the university town of Bowling Green, Ohio. Durant, who had previously assaulted a pro-life display, faced a year in prison, but last April Magistrate Judge Darrell A. Clay sentenced Durant to two years’ probation and a $2,000 fine.
“The primary belief held by Christian pro-lifers is the sacrosanct nature of the human person — as the Declaration of Independence recognizes, ‘we are endowed by our Creator’ not our government. If the truth of inherent human dignity is undermined, it opens the door for secular centralized government and the ability for that government to legalize systemic human rights abuses,” Harden emphasized.
LifeNews Note: Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.
The post Trump Attorney: We Will “Aggressively” Prosecute Leftists Who Attacked Churches and Pregnancy Centers appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Fr. Z's BlogHERE
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Site: Zero HedgeWatch: Illegal Alien Smugglers' Boat Rammed By CBP Off California CoastTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 15:45
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
Dramatic footage shows agents with US Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations halting an attempt by human traffickers to smuggle a boat full of illegals into the country earlier this week.
The video posted to X shows the moment the agents rammed into the boat in an incident off the coast of California.
Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks stated that the CBP was alerted by the Mexican Navy that the vessel had refused to stop for them and the U.S. Coast Guard in a previous encounter.
USBP and CBP Air & Marine Operations (AMO) stopped two suspected smugglers in the open waters of San Diego, CA, after receiving reports from the Mexican Navy about a vessel with two individuals that failed to stop for them and the U.S. Coast Guard a few days prior. Law… pic.twitter.com/tgLXqOh11a
— Chief Michael W. Banks (@USBPChief) April 28, 2025Banks noted that AMO agents attempted to stop the boat near the San Diego coastline, but the driver refused to heave, forcing the escalated action.
The agents rammed the boat and disabled it, allowing them to detain two alleged human smugglers.
“Even in the open ocean, the border has a line- and we will defend it,” Banks urged.
Last week, Banks revealed that another vessel was intercepted carrying 19 illegal aliens, three of whom are thought to be traffickers.
U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Coastguard intercepted a human smuggling attempt just off the coast near Oceanside, CA. The leisure vessel was carrying 19 illegal aliens, 3 of which were smugglers. The smugglers now face felony charges for alien smuggling (8USC1324), while the… pic.twitter.com/E1seXLjEFi
— Chief Michael W. Banks (@USBPChief) April 25, 2025Such incursions are increasing in frequency now the land borders have been completely locked down by the Trump administration.
New US Border Stats
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) April 30, 2025
– 99.99% decrease in so called getaways
– Illegal border encounters are now down 95%
– Trump administration has deported roughly 139,000 people
– Under Biden, border patrol officials dealt with up to 15,000 crossings per day
– Under Trump, Homan said that… pic.twitter.com/VYmeTNwXfLJUST RELEASED: 99.9% at the Border. Best number ever recorded. 3 people got in, versus hundreds of thousands in last Administration. There has NEVER been such a difference before. Congratulations America!
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) April 27, 2025
From Donald Trump Truth Social 04/27/25 08:57 AM* * *
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.
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Site: Henrymakow.com
Rothschild agents,one and allAs the CHABAD prepares to launch WW3, as the third part of its "3-Part War of Gog and Magog", it would be very naïve to believe that the "leaders" of all "sides" were truly "opposing" each other. In fact, the ancient ruse whereby "Team Antichrist" fields various gangs of controlled-opposition stooges is more relevant today than ever before.Do not follow "leaders"; because controlled-opposition stooges have been par-for-the-course since at least 1900!... and all because THERE REALLY IS NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS!By Patrick O'Carroll(henrymakow.com)Since at least 1900, "Team Antichrist" has financed both "sides" of every major war using the exact same banks in the City of London, NYC, and Switzerland.In each war, "Team Antichrist" must control both the "good" "democrats" and the "evil" "dictators", and also dress up all "sides" to "look their part"; because, after all, there really is No Business like Show Business. Consequently too, it goes without saying that "Team Antichrist" must field gangs of controlled-opposition stooges in every major war and conflict; and here are just 12 examples:ADOLF HITLER"Team Antichrist" installed British-Zionist Agent Adolf Hitler as German Führer with the task of smashing Germany and increasing the death-toll of the German Holocaust to 37 million civilians genocided by the Zionists in 1914-55. Hitler committed 30 major deliberate military "blunders" in favor of the Zionist powers (US, GB, RU, FR).In 1912-13, Adolf Hitler was present in the top two epicenters of "Illuminati" mind-control programming, London and Vienna. This was confirmed by Fritz Springmeier, by Hitler's sister-in-law Bridget in her 1979 book "The Memoirs of Bridget Hitler", and by Greg Hallett in his "Hitler Was a British Agent" (2005). Tavistock brainwashed Hitler in 1912."STALIN" (IOSEB DZHUGASHVILI)The "Vienna Gathering" was a "coincidental" phenomenon whereby "Team Antichrist" mustered FOUR future world "leaders", "Stalin" (Ioseb Dzhugashvili); Adolf Hitler; "Trotsky" (Lev Bronstein); and "Tito" (Josip Broz), in Central Vienna during a single period of 1913, and in roughly a 2-square-mile (5 km²) area, with psychiatrist Sigmund Freud also "coincidentally" on standby in the vicinity to assist "Team Antichrist" with the mind-control programs for all four.In his 2007 book "Stalin's British Training", Greg Hallett described how "Stalin" was brainwashed by Tavistock.MAO ZEDONG"Team Antichrist" installed its agent Mao Zedong in China, who was a preeminent member of the Skull & Bones-run Freemasonic lodge YALE IN CHINA. "Team Antichrist" aimed to severely weaken China by old-fashioned genocide.But because the Talmud commands the genocide of all Goyim "Livestock", "Team Antichrist" often deploys Jewish agents when it wants to reap better or "higher-quality" genocide. And, in the event, China's Bolshevik-Zionists were assisted by "wise", "genocide-aiding" Jews, such as the likes of Sidney Rittenberg, Israel Epstein, Jakob Rosenfeld, Grigori Voitinsky, Richard Frey, Morris Cohen, Hans Shippe, Grigory Gershuni, Boris Shumiatsky, Adolf Joffe, Mikhail Gruzenberg, David Crook, Sidney Shapiro, Solomon Adler, Sam Ginsbourg, Michael Shapiro, Pavel Mif.The upshot was the "successful" genocide of 100 million Chinese Goyim "Livestock" in 1949-69, particularly in the era of Forced Famine in 1958-62. "Team Antichrist" was happy with this "worthy progress", and David Rockefeller sang the praises of Mao Zedong in his Aug 1973 article "From a China Traveler" in the Zionist New York Times.
HO CHI MINHDuring WW2, Ho Chi Minh had been an agent of the OSS who later seamlessly transitioned to becoming an agent of the Central Lack-Of-Intelligence Agency (CIA).The main focus of the CIA in Vietnam, and all of Southeast Asia, was always the drugs business, especially heroin.In a 2003 interview with Jeff Rense, the great Eustace Mullins confirmed: "Roosevelt started the Vietnam War because Ho Chi Minh was his top agent in Southeast Asia, and of course the Delano fortune came from his grandfather Warren Delano and the Hong Kong opium trade ... Roosevelt insisted that Ho Chi Minh's reports from Southeast Asia be placed on his desk every day when they came in. That was the top priority. He was fighting a war against Hitler and the Fascists, but the top priority was Ho Chi Minh because of the drugs. These people always KNOW what they are doing, but they do not like to TELL other people what they are doing, and they do not want other people to FIND OUT what they are doing ... [It is all about] DRUGS AND MONEY."OSAMA BIN LADENStarting in the 1980s, Osama bin Laden was a CIA Agent who went by "Tim Osman". Later, he became a Zionist-sponsored "terrorist". The 36 Freemasonic super-lodges that rule the world, and their membership lists, were exposed by Freemason Gioele Magaldi (founder and "venerable" master of Italian lodge Grande Oriente d'Italia Democratico) in his 2014 book "Massoni; Società A Responsabilità Illimitata; la Scoperta Delle Ur-Lodges".Osama bin Laden ("Tim Osman") was a member of the Freemasonic super-lodge HATHOR PENTALPHA, another member of which was Zionist-sponsored "terrorist" "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi", who is in fact the Jewish Mossad Agent bearing the real name Elliot Shimon or Simon Elliot. Other members of HATHOR PENTALPHA included GW Bush, Tony Blair, GHW Bush, Ariel Sharon, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, William Kristol ...
(Justin's dad and Noriega)FIDEL CASTROFidel Castro was a 33rd-degree Freemason and a stooge of London's Chatham House, RIIA, and the CFR of NYC."Team Antichrist" launched the wholly-staged Cuban "revolution" (yet another Freemasonic coup d'état). Cuba was taken not by armed insurrection, but by a deal called the Miami Pact, in which Castro conspired with anti-Batista Cuban politicos and wealthy Cuban exiles to acquire a large fund which Castro then used to bribe Cuban Army commanders into abandoning US-backed military dictator Fulgencio Batista and into joining his "revolutionaries". Nothing else happened. Castro's "Battle for Cuba" was mostly a PR campaign waged in Washington DC and NYC. Local spy networks for the US embassy in Havana confirmed that the combat casualties on both "sides" of the Cuban "revolution" totaled 182. This was truly negligible for a population of 7 million Cubans over 5.5 years. More Cubans died from bike-falls and bee-stings than as casualties of the wholly-staged Cuban "revolution".SADDAM HUSSEINSaddam Hussein started on the CIA payroll in 1963. "Team Antichrist" controlled Saddam during the Iran-Iraq War, from Sep 1980 until Aug 1988, and also encouraged Saddam to invade Kuwait when April Glaspie, US ambassador to Iraq, gave him the green-light for this invasion when the two met on 25 Jul 1990."Team Antichrist" was grateful to Saddam Hussein for playing along with its orchestration of the Second Gulf War, which was based on the official conspiracy theory that claimed Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction".MANUEL NORIEGANoriega started on the CIA payroll in the late 1950s. He helped the US Regime set up listening posts in Panama and funnel aid to forces friendly to the US Regime in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Later, Noriega became a CIA puppet-politico who helped his CIA bosses and their agent Pablo Escobar to mass-import cocaine into the USA.CIA Agent GHW Bush invaded Panama in Dec 1989 as part of a drugs turf-war. But a lot of showbiz duped the US slaves into believing that this "war" had been about bringing CIA Agent Noriega to "justice". In fact, the CIA wanted to wrest control over the entire Central American drugs trade and put its own nagging competition out of business.VLADIMIR PUTINVladimir Putin masquerades as an Orthodox Christian but his membership of the CHABAD and his Jewish mother ensure that the CHABAD still views him as a Jew. For at least the past 30 years, the "holy" Sabbatean-Frankist CHABAD rabbi Berel Lazar has been Putin's Rothschild-Zionist Handler.VOLODYMYR ZIOLENSKYVolodymyr ZioLensky is a Jewish agent of British MI6 and a member of the CHABAD. "Team Antichrist" remote-controlled ZioLensky to ensure the Ukraine War went ahead, to genocide 1.5 million Goyim "Livestock" so far.
MAHATMA GANDHIMahatma Gandhi was a top Freemason who was a member, and founder in 1904, of the super-lodge ARJUNA-PHOENIX, and also a member of the super-lodge THOMAS PAINE."Team Antichrist" "canonized" Gandhi as a "saint" of the Talmudic "new" world order, despite the fact that he was an ardent anti-democratic defender of India's Caste System and a vociferous hater of the Blacks of South Africa during his time there. "Team Antichrist" also cherished and endorsed Gandhi because of his strong ties to several powerful Jewish families and individuals, including the Sassoons, Abraham Barak Salem, and Hermann Kallenbach.MICHAEL COLLINSThe official-"truth" narrative claims that Michael Collins was Ireland's great "republican" "leader". But the real truth is that Collins was a British Agent and a stooge of the British Empire.In a dispatch dated 29 Jun 1922, Irish "Republican" "leader" Michael Collins revealed his FULL complicity with the British Regime, stating: "Mr Churchill, we are hampered by the continued lack of material. We were promised two hundred rounds of high explosive at two AM this morning but they were not available. This ammunition was again promised for five thirty and again not available. The promise was renewed for eight thirty with like result. The effect of this is to create great lack of confidence on our side amounting to grave suspicion. Essential that action be taken immediately, otherwise situation will become impossible, Michael Collins".Collins was turned or compromised to give his support to a phony artificial dialectic, invented by Britain, to ensure that a majority of the duped Irish populace would "accept" the Irish partition "treaty", enacted on 3 May 1921. -
Site: Fr. Z's BlogIt’s the feast of St. Joseph Opifex… the Worker. On 19 March 1937 (the Feast of Saint Joseph), Pius XI placed “the vast campaign of the Church against world Communism under the standard of Saint Joseph, her mighty protector.” In 1955, Pius … Read More →
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Site: LES FEMMES - THE TRUTH
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Site: LifeNews
Another East Texas county has passed an ordinance outlawing abortion. Camp County (pop. 13,039) passed their ordinance on Wednesday morning, becoming the 10th city in the nation to pass such a measure.
The measure, which was presented by Right to Life Across Texas, was passed in a unanimous 5-0 vote by Judge A.J. Mason and County Commissioners Jed Hefner, Tommy Rozell, Perry Weeks, and Steve Lindley.
The vote came after the East Texas city of Avinger passed a similar ordinance on Monday and after a new report was released which found that about 11% of women experience “sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion.” Judge Mason shared, “I can think of no greater cause to be a part of than defending those who can’t defend themselves. This is a great day.”
Executive Director for East Texans for Liberty Stacy McMahan, shared, “We are eternally grateful to the Camp County Commissioners Court for being the first county in East Texas to unanimously pass a Sanctuary County for the Unborn ordinance. This ordinance aligns with the law to protect the unborn.” McMahan continued, “What many do not understand is that this also protects our youth from being trafficked across state lines for abortions that result in the death of innocent babies. In our area, underage children may find themselves in situations they are afraid to tell their parents about, or they may experience abuse or molestation by family members aiming to conceal evidence of their crime. This all results in the loss of innocent life. Have you seen the sign at the abortion clinic in New Mexico that says, ‘Welcome East Texans…’? It is heartbreaking, and I cannot understand why any county or city would not address this issue promptly.”
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The Camp County Sanctuary County for the Unborn Ordinance extends the private right of action found in the Texas Heartbeat Act from the point of a detectable heartbeat to the point of conception – allowing a lawsuit to be filed against anyone in violation of the ordinance. The ordinance is clear that no action may be brought against the mother of the unborn child upon whom the abortion was performed or induced or attempted to be performed or induced in violation of the ordinance. The ordinance also prohibits the mailing of abortion-inducing drugs into the county, prohibits abortion trafficking through the county, and prohibits waste management companies from trafficking aborted babies through the county or disposing of dead babies anywhere within the county. In addition to providing protections for pregnant mothers and their unborn children, the ordinance also educates about the Thriving Texas Families Program and directs people to the Texas Pregnancy Care Network website and The Pregnancy Network website operated by Human Coalition to be connected to the program’s services.
Upon hearing the news, Texas State Representative Cole Hefner, who represents Camp County, shared, “While I couldn’t be there in person due to session in Austin, I’m incredibly proud to celebrate some powerful news out of Camp County this morning. With a unanimous 5-0 vote, the Commissioners’ Court passed an ordinance officially making Camp County a Sanctuary County for the Unborn — the first in East Texas, the eighth in our state, and the tenth in the entire nation to do so. This bold step not only outlaws abortion within the unincorporated areas of the county, but it also prohibits abortion trafficking and the aiding and abetting of elective abortions—even when those efforts begin or pass through Camp County.”
Hefner continued, “I commend Judge A.J. Mason and the entire Commissioners’ Court for their courage and commitment to protecting the most vulnerable among us. This isn’t just a symbolic statement—it’s a legally enforceable action that honors the sanctity of life and strengthens Texas’ stance as a leader in the fight for the unborn. I’m proud to stand with Camp County as they take a bold stand for life.”
The Sanctuary for the Unborn ordinances, which have now been passed in 57 cities and 8 counties across the state, help to reduce these numbers to the best of their ability. Part of what several counties and cities have accomplished at the local level is being attempted at the state level through bills like the Woman and Child Protection Act (TX HB 5510 / TX SB 2880) and the Stop Tax-Funded Abortion Travel Act (TX SB 33 / TX HB 1806). Those who wish to encourage the Texas legislature to prioritize the passage of such bills can do so by sending the legislature a message through contacting Texas Right to Life. Citizens who are interested in seeing their county or city pass an ordinance going as far as their city or county can to prohibit abortion are encouraged to sign the online petition on the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn website.
LifeNews Note: Mark Lee Dickson lives in Texas and is the founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative.
The post Texas County Passes Law Banning Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeAmazon Announces $4 Billion Rural Delivery Network, Estimates 100,000 New JobsTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 15:05
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,
Amazon will invest $4 billion by 2026 to expand its network in rural America for delivering packages faster in densely populated areas, the company said in an April 30 statement.
“This investment will also grow our rural delivery network’s footprint to over 200 delivery stations, and we estimate it will create over 100,000 new jobs and driving opportunities through a wide range of full-time, part-time, and flexible positions in our buildings and on the roads,” the company said.
“Once this expansion is complete, our network will be able to deliver over a billion more packages each year to customers living in over 13,000 zip codes spanning 1,200,000 square miles—an area the size of Alaska, California, and Texas combined.”
The effort focuses on small towns in the United States. Amazon plans on expanding at a time when many logistics providers “have backed away from investing in rural customers and communities.”
Amazon estimates that by the end of next year, its rural delivery network will triple in size, with average delivery times being cut in half.
For each new facility opened as part of expansion, an estimated 170 new jobs on average shall be created at the delivery station level, Amazon said, adding that other job opportunities would be extra, such as those created via the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) and Amazon Flex programs.
DSP is a program in which small businesses set up delivery services to transport Amazon goods. Flex is aimed at individuals who want to make some extra money delivering Amazon packages using their own vehicles.
The flex program has been caught up in legal conflicts involving driver contracts.
In June last year, lawyers representing thousands of Amazon Flex drivers announced they filed legal claims alleging the company wrongly classified the drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, which led to them being deprived of various financial benefits and worker protections.
“As Amazon exerts considerable control over the Flex drivers in their deliveries and the deliveries are part of Amazon’s usual business, the drivers qualify as Amazon employees, not independent contractors, and should be paid accordingly,” Joseph Sellers, partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and attorney for the drivers, said at the time.
In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, an Amazon spokesperson said the Flex program enables individuals to make “competitive pay” while setting their own schedules and being their own boss.
“We hear from most of the Amazon Flex delivery partners that they love the flexibility of the program, and we’re proud of the work they do on behalf of customers every day,” the spokesperson said.
In its April 30 statement, Amazon said it is the leading job creator in the United States, having created more than 500,000 jobs over the past five years.
The company cited a study by Amazon economists, the University of Pennsylvania, and The Wharton School, which found that “when Amazon opens a facility, median household incomes in the county increase by $1,225 per year and poverty rates fall by as much as 3.3 percent on average,” the statement said.
UPS Delivery Cut, Tariff Rumor
Amazon’s decision to expand rural delivery comes as the United Parcel Service (UPS) recently said it was aiming to cut half of its Amazon business by the second half of the year.
During a Jan. 30 earnings call, UPS CEO Carol Tome said the company was concerned about the volume and revenue concentration that was tied up with its Amazon delivery operations.
“Our contract with Amazon came up this year, and so we said it’s time to step back for a moment and reassess our relationship because if we take no action, it will likely result in diminishing returns,” she said.
In an April 29 conference call with Wall Street analysts, Tome said she was pleased with the ongoing efforts to reduce the company’s reliance on Amazon’s business.
“This volume is not a healthy fit for our network. The Amazon volume we plan to keep is profitable and is a healthy volume,” she said, adding that Amazon currently makes up 11.7 percent of UPS revenue.
Meanwhile, Amazon recently responded to a report that it was planning to display the cost of U.S. tariffs next to the price of products on its website.
The report had triggered comments from the White House, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying on April 29 that such a move would amount to a “hostile and political act.”
“Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” she said.
Amazon denied that it would be carrying out the plan, saying it never considered displaying tariff information on its website.
“The team that runs our ultra-low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.
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Site: LifeNews
Following the publication of a shocking new study on the effects of the abortion drug mifepristone, pro-life leaders are calling on President Donald Trump to uphold state-level pro-life laws and implement stronger safeguards around the prescription and use of mifepristone.
The Washington Stand has obtained a copy of a letter authored by a coalition of over 50 organizations — led by Family Research Council, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), Catholic Vote, Family Policy Alliance, Human Coalition, Students for Life of America, National Right to Life, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and the American Principles Project — and sent to the president on Tuesday, detailing the dangers of mifepristone and asking him to support state-level pro-life laws and reconsider the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) approval of mifepristone, or at the very least reinstate safeguards originally enacted when the abortion drug was approved in 2000.
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The letter began by thanking the president for his “stance as a defender of the weak and vulnerable — especially the unborn,” and named some of his pro-life achievements. “We will be eternally grateful for the work you did during your first term to bring about the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which set the stage for legislators in America to once again protect the unborn,” the letter stated. It continued:
“Unfortunately, Democrats and the left are trampling on the rights of state legislators to implement the will of the people to protect life, and they are using the US Postal Service to do so. We respectfully ask that you take swift action to protect the rights of states to defend unborn children, in keeping with your campaign pledge to return the issue of abortion to the states.”
The letter noted that mifepristone has quickly become responsible for the majority (over 60%) of abortions committed in the U.S. and thanked the president for his efforts in 2020 to combat the liberalization of the abortion drug. However, the letter also pointed out that the Biden administration reduced safeguards surrounding the prescription, distribution, and consumption of mifepristone, including restricting law enforcement agencies from prosecuting the mailing of the abortion drug “unless the sender knows the abortion drugs will be used unlawfully and federal authorities are specifically aware of this intent.” The letter added that, since the Biden administration issued that opinion through the Department of Justice (DOJ), “#WeCount survey estimates 8,000 prescriptions of mifepristone per month (almost 100,000 per year) have been sent through the mail from abortionists in pro-abortion states to pro-life states.”
Blue states and districts — namely, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia — have all enacted “shield laws” protecting abortionists who prescribe and send mifepristone across state lines and into states with pro-life laws, the letter noted. “Many states have laws protecting against mifepristone not only because it kills an unborn child, but also because of the grave risk it poses to women,” the letter stated.
The letter then referenced a new study published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) this week, which found that the rate of serious adverse complications related to the use of mifepristone is roughly 22 times higher than the FDA claims. While the FDA suggests that only 0.5% of women who use mifepristone experience serious adverse complications, the EPPC found that one in 10 women experience serious complications, including hemorrhaging, sepsis, infection, and others. “The risk from mifepristone could jeopardize a mother’s life,” the letter clarified regarding the study’s results.
“Finally, when mifepristone is not dispensed in person, there is no way to verify who is taking it or to ensure they are doing so willingly,” the letter continued, pointing to the example of a woman in Louisiana who ordered the abortion drug from a New York abortionist and “coerced her pregnant daughter into an abortion. The daughter, who had planned a gender reveal party, experienced complications from the drug, bled heavily and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.” When Louisiana, which has stringent pro-life legal protections in place, attempted to extradite the New York abortionist, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) rejected the extradition request, saying at the time, “If I don’t stand up and protect this doctor, who the hell will?” That same New York abortionist also shipped mifepristone to Texas, another state with strong pro-life laws.
“New York politicians have a history of weaponizing the government against their political opponents. Now, New York politicians are weaponizing the government against states that protect life,” the letter stated. It continued, “Pro-abortionists and states like New York cannot continue to ignore the law and trample on states’ rights. States must be empowered to enforce pro-life laws, all the original safety protocols on mifepristone must be restored, and the FDA must investigate mifepristone, reconsidering its approval altogether.” The letter to the president concluded, “The lives of women and unborn children and the rights of states depend upon it.”
In comments to The Washington Stand, Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, explained the significance of both the letter to the president and the wide-ranging coalition behind the letter. “The pro-life movement has been pro-baby and pro-mom from the beginning. With the approval of mifepristone in 2000, pro-lifers saw abortion killing unborn babies and harming their mothers in ways previously unknown,” she said.
Szoch continued, “The abortion industry has marketed this drug as ‘just like Tylenol’ and, as a result, many women have taken it with as little thought as taking a Tylenol. The consequences have been devastating. These women have met the crushing reality that what Planned Parenthood promised was just a clump of cells is really their visibly recognizable baby delivered into the toilet. Many of these women have found themselves alone and trying to figure out if the horrific bleeding and excruciating pain they are experiencing are normal or a sign that their life is in danger. Countless women desperately wish they could turn back time to the moments before ingesting the drug.”
“The pro-life movement has witnessed this for over 20 years — and over time the situation has gotten worse,” Szoch recounted. She added, “Pro-abortionists have lobbied successfully time and time again to have mifepristone distributed under the least safe conditions possible — obviously for the unborn baby, but also for her mother.”
She continued, “The newest data showing that one in 10 women has a serious adverse event following an abortion, the deaths of Candi Miller and Amber Thurman, the exploitation and coercion faced by a young mother excited for the birth of her child in Louisiana, the complications faced by a woman in Texas, and pro-abortion states’ complete and total disregard for state laws protecting women and children from abortion demand that the pro-life movement speak out in one unified voice to end the reckless use of this dangerous drug.”
“The Trump administration has a history of standing for the weak and vulnerable — of being the most pro-life administration in the history of America,” Szoch said. She encouraged the president, “Now is the time for the Trump administration to enforce the longstanding federal law — the Comstock Act — that prevents abortion-inducing drugs from being sent through the mail, and to revisit the approval of mifepristone all together and remove it from the market.” She concluded, “This drug is killing unborn children, breaking women’s hearts and bodies, and sometimes, taking their lives. It should not be for sale in America.”
LifeNews Note: S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.
The post Trump Must Stop Abortion Pills, Which are Killing Babies Even in Pro-Life States appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Novus Motus LiturgicusAt the very end of the 14th century, the painter Spinello di Luca Spinelli (1350 ca. - 1410 ca.), usually known as Spinello Aretino (from Arezzo) was commissioned to make a frescoed altarpiece for the Dominican church of his native city. The altar itself no longer exists; it was dedicated to the Apostles Philip and James, whose feast is traditionally kept today, along with St Catherine of Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Zero HedgeThe Potential Winners And Losers In Reshoring Supply ChainsTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 13:05
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
Until values, priorities and incentives change, "the lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock and on back order, with no estimate of a future delivery date."
The ultimate winners and losers in reshoring supply chains to North America have yet to be determined, and may change depending on the time frame. In the short-term, there are ample reasons to reckon consumers will be the losers as shortages and price-gouging ("it's the tariffs" will be the excuse given for profiteering) take their toll.
Matt Stoller has posted two comprehensive essays on these topics:
How Monopolies Could Exploit the Tariff Shock
How to Prepare for the Coming Supply Chain Shock
In the longer term, however, consumers could be winners as reshored supply chains will be more stable and predictable than globalized supply chains. Stability has a value that isn't recognized until it's absent--as do durability and quality.
One set of potential winners might be large retail corporations that choose to switch from "horizontal" global supply chains to vertically integrated domestic production, in which raw materials are turned into finished products in one production facility.
Ford Motor Company was an early adopter of this model, constructing the immense Ford River Rouge complex from 1917 to 1928 that turned iron ore into finished automobiles in one integrated production process.
"With its own docks in the dredged Rouge River, 100 miles (160 km) of interior railroad track, its own electricity plant, and integrated steel mill, the titanic Rouge was able to turn raw materials into running vehicles within this single complex, a prime example of vertical-integration production."
While it can be argued that vertical integration is less efficient in terms of cost, once again the value of complete control, stability and predictability is not included in spreadsheets, though it becomes readily apparent when long single-source global supply chains break down or are crippled by bottlenecks, artificial scarcities triggered by geopolitical blackmail or a host of other causal factors.
Establishing domestic sources for materials, tooling, robotics, etc. would remove many of the uncertainties that are inherent in a global supply chain breaking down along geopolitical, regional and national lines.
Were unions to regain wide public support, industrial unions might be winners should the public support unionizing new production facilities. The sustained erosion of labor's share of the nation's income over the past five decades might finally gain recognition as a core driver of wealth-income inequality and unionized labor might be understood as a necessary rebalancing of an economy that has favored finance and capital over labor for nearly three generations.
Were the public to begin valuing local production and jobs over "lower prices" and equally low quality, local supply chains might become winners. Note that I've mentioned the public's values and priorities as key drivers changing economic incentives and policies. In the current zeitgeist, the public is assumed to be "rational economic robots" who respond solely to price.
Once the full banquet of consequences of rampant hyper-financialization and hyper-globalization has played out, the public might begin to grasp the importance of valuing something other than low prices (and the low quality that comes with low prices). As a general rule, the public leads the private sector and government, not the other way round.
For example, the public might start valuing national security, which is ultimately dependent on stable, predictable domestic production supply chains owned and controlled by domestic companies.
Until values, priorities and incentives change, the lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock and on back order, with no estimate of a future delivery date.
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Site: Mises InstituteThe California Bullet Train has become the Eternal Project That Won‘t Go Away no matter how big a failure it has become. Political inertia is a powerful force and California politicians have used it to deceive voters and taxpayers, who will face a reckoning.
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Site: Rorate CaeliOur friends in Una Voce Czechia are recommending all-night adoration in one's parish or community on the night of Sunday, May 4, to Monday, May 5, 2025. Eucharistic adoration may begin immediately after Sunday Mass and then end on Monday morning. However, another day and time may be chosen, as it suits the circumstances.If you get this going, please let them know here so it can be addedPeter Kwasniewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136784193150446335noreply@blogger.com
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Site: Zero HedgeBrand New Kohl's CEO Fired After "Highly Unusual" Company Transactions With His Romantic PartnerTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 12:45
Now former Kohl's CEO Ashley Buchanan was abruptly fired after an internal investigation revealed he steered the company into a multimillion-dollar deal involving a vendor tied to a former romantic partner, according to the Wall Street Journal, who first broke the story.
Buchanan was hired in November 2024 and became CEO effective January 15, 2025.
Michael J. Bender, Kohl’s Board Chair, said at the time: “We know he will be a great leader for Kohl's and will bring a new perspective in our next chapter.” That chapter barely lasted 4 months.
Buchanan
He "had instructed the retailer to enter into a 'highly unusual' business deal involving a woman with whom he has had a romantic relationship," the Journal wrote.
The company's board found Buchanan failed to disclose the relationship and violated the company's code of conduct, according to a regulatory filing.
The vendor, unnamed in filings, was part of a consulting team awarded a lucrative contract. Sources identified her as Chandra Holt, a former Walmart and Bed Bath & Beyond executive whom Buchanan met years earlier while both worked at Walmart. Holt now runs Incredibrew, a vitamin-infused coffee startup.
Holt
The two have a history:
The two retail veterans have known each other for years. Buchanan was the Sam’s Club chief merchandising officer and Holt held several positions at the Walmart chain, including general merchandise manager of grocery and the chief operating officer of its website.
They both further rose through the ranks at Walmart before leaving around the same time for other positions at Texas-based retailers. Buchanan left in early 2020 to become CEO of Michaels. Holt left in 2021 to become CEO of Conn’s HomePlus and later Bed Bath and Beyond.
The Journal wrote that Buchanan, who became Kohl’s CEO in November 2024 after leading Michaels, will forfeit equity awards and repay a prorated portion of a $2.5 million signing bonus.
Neither he nor Holt responded to requests for comment. Kohl’s appointed Chairman Michael Bender as interim CEO—the chain’s fourth chief in three years—as it grapples with a 4% sales drop and a likely quarterly loss.
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Site: Mundabor's blogAnd it came to pass that we now have a date (the 7th of May) and a list of favourites. The one that is most talked about is Cardinal Parolin. I am not sure Parolin is so strong a candidate. He is controversial for having been a very bad secretary of State, but he is […]
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Site: LifeNews
A pro-abortion group in Missouri has launched a legal challenge against the state’s parental consent law for minors seeking abortions.
The lawsuit, which could ultimately allow secret abortions on teenagers, prompted outrage from pro-life advocates who say the move endangers young women and undermines parental rights.
The lawsuit, filed by the pro-abortion group Right By You against Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, the state, and a county prosecutor, seeks to strike down a law requiring minors to obtain permission from at least one parent before an abortion.
Critics of the lawsuit argue it aims to enable secret abortions, bypassing parents’ ability to guide their children through major medical decisions.
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Bailey condemned the litigation as “shameful” in a statement to the Missouri Independent.
“This is a shameful and dangerous attempt by radicals hell-bent on the destruction of innocent life to undermine not only parental rights but also the health and safety of young women,” Bailey’s office said. “Trafficking minors for dangerous procedures without parental consent is and should remain illegal.”
Missouri’s parental consent law, in place for decades, is seen by pro-life supporters as a critical safeguard, ensuring parents can protect their daughters from the physical and emotional risks of abortion. The state’s pro-life community views the lawsuit as part of a broader push by abortion activists to erode protections following the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which returned abortion regulation to the states.
Pro-life leaders counter that the amendment does not negate the state’s interest in protecting minors and preserving parental authority. They point to Bailey’s defense of the law as a necessary measure to prevent exploitation and ensure informed decision-making.
“Before Election Day, the abortion lobby insisted Amendment 3 would not take away parents’ rights. Now they’re suing so girls who aren’t old enough to get their ears pierced on their own can have an abortion without their parents. It’s not enough for ‘Right By You’ to text your daughter about getting an abortion, they want to send her straight to an abortionist without mom or dad knowing,” said Kelsey Pritchard, political communications director for SBA Pro-Life America.
She told LifeNews: “This lawsuit is especially alarming in a state where Planned Parenthood was recently caught on tape trying to transport a 13-year-old girl to a Kansas abortion facility without her parents’ knowledge or consent. Ending parental consent would enable abusers and traffickers to exploit minors in Missouri.’
“The abortion lobby’s litigation reveals the end goal of pro-abortion ballot measures. Rather than protecting a ‘decision between a woman and her doctor,’ these amendments protect abortion business’ profits at the expense of girls and their parents,” pritchard concluded.
The case, filed in Jackson County’s 16th Circuit Court, is expected to draw significant attention as it tests the balance between Missouri’s new constitutional abortion protections and longstanding pro-life policies. A ruling against the parental consent law could set a precedent for other states with similar statutes, alarming pro-life groups nationwide.
The post Missouri Abortion Activists File Lawsuit to Do Secret Abortions on Teens appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero Hedge"Strong Demand" For Lilly's Weight-Loss Drug Overshadowed By Guidance Cut, Shares FallTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 12:05
Update (1340ET):
Earlier, Eli Lilly shares dropped more than 10.5%, surpassing the decline seen on November 23, 2016, and marking the stock's steepest drop since October 9, 2008.
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Eli Lilly & Co. shares fell in premarket trading in New York after the company slashed its full-year profit outlook, citing increased research and development expenses, despite posting first-quarter revenue and earnings that beat analysts' expectations, driven by strong demand for its anti-obesity drug, Mounjaro.
Goldman analysts, including Asad Haider, provided clients with a first take on Lilly's first-quarter earnings, indicating that 1Q25 results "slightly exceeded expectations."
LLY's 1Q25 earnings slightly exceeded expectations, where, encouragingly, the tirzepatide franchise (Zepbound + Mounjaro) came in at $6.15bn ahead of GS/Visible Alpha Consensus Data ($6bn), reflecting continued strong demand, partially offset by lower realized prices. We note that recent IQVIA data shows Zepbound momentum continuing into April. Performance was a bit uneven amongst other portfolio items, with Jardiance (which included a one time benefit of $370mn) and Ebglyss outperforming, while Jaypirca, Omvoh and Emgality fell short of expectations.
Exhibits 1 and 2 provide more color on earnings results:
Actual vs. GS/Consensus- Income Statement and Margins
Actual vs. GS/Consensus- Income Statement and Margins
Overshadowing the first-quarter print was Lilly's move to slash its full-year earnings guidance due to charges related to a recent cancer treatment deal.
Lilly noted in an earnings release that the existing tariff and trade environment was factored into updated guidance. However, it said the new guidance does not reflect any policy shifts, including pharmaceutical sector tariffs, that could impact business.
More color on the updated guidance via Goldman's Haider:
The 2025 EPS guidance cut (from $22.50- $24.00 to $20.78- $22.28) was entirely driven by the 1Q25 IPR&D charge of $1.57bn which translates to $1.72 on EPS
Haider maintained a "Buy" rating on Lilly with a 12-month price target of $888.
Shares fell 6% in premarket trading as the guidance cut took center stage, overshadowing an otherwise solid first quarter. Despite the decline, the stock remains just below Goldman's 12-month price target and not far off from record highs.
Adding to the pressure, CVS Health announced a deal to expand access to rival Novo Nordisk's anti-obesity drug, which may have further weighed on Lilly's stock sentiment ahead of the cash market.
Earlier, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks provided CNBC with an update about tariffs: "I think that actually the threat of tariffs is already bringing back critical supply chains into important industries, chips and pharma," adding, "So do we need to enact [tariffs?] I'm not so sure."
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Site: LifeNews
A bill recently introduced and preliminarily passed in the Texas Senate seeks to amplify the penalties for manufacturing, mailing or delivering abortion pills to someone in the state.
The Texas Tribune reported that violators of Senate Bill 2880, also known as the “Women and Child Protection Act,” could be sued for $100,000. The bill also changes when, how, and whom can be sued.
“The bill expands on the private enforcement mechanism Texas used to outlaw most abortions in 2021 by allowing private lawsuits against anyone who mails or delivers abortion pills, including medication manufacturers,” the Texas Tribune reported. “It also expands when and how people can sue for wrongful death after an abortion and goes after internet providers that host information on abortion pills and financial services that facilitate transactions.”
HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation!
Abortion is currently illegal in Texas in almost all instances. The bill’s author, Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes, said that the bill would provide more protections for women targeted by out-of-state abortion pill suppliers.
Though the bill passed in the Senate April 29, it was hotly debated by Democratic Sen. Nathan Johnson on the issue of jurisprudence. According to the Texas Tribune, the bill currently prohibits anyone from challenging it in state court before its becomes effective Sept. 1. The bill also allows anyone to sue a state court judge for $100,000 should they rule it unconstitutional.
“If there is a judge who is having to defend herself or himself under this provision, they may not receive or obtain legal representation from the attorney general,” Johnson noted. “Now that’s not very nice, is it?”
Hughes responded, “Ignoring the law is not very nice when the Legislature specifically sets it out in a way that’s clear and unequivocal.”
Additionally, the bill would make lawyers financially responsible for legal fees in almost all cases should they represent challengers to the bill. It also would extend the statute of limitations in deaths caused by abortion drugs.
Hughes also stated that the bill’s purpose “is to be a very strong and unequivocal statement” dissuading anyone from mailing abortion pills into the state.
According to the Texas Tribune, Texas has several statutes dating to before the Civil War that criminalize abortions. Conservatives argue that the laws are in effect, but progressives argue the opposite, citing court rulings that say the statutes were “repealed by implication.”
LifeNews Note: Hannah Hiester writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Texas Bill Cracks Down on Illegal Abortion Pills so Abortion Ban Saves Babies appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeWe Have Sharply Binary Geopolitical Outcomes AheadTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 11:45
By Michael Every of Rabobank
This is no time for traditional economic and market methods of poring over old data. Q1 US GDP, -0.3% q-o-q annualized, tells us nothing about what will happen given its all-over-the-place components driven by preparations for a trade war now underway. Nowcasts for Q2 GDP are already showing it back to around 2.4%, but that’s again with two months of the quarter to go and US retail inventories sitting at around 5-7 weeks, after which nobody knows what will happen as the upcoming Port of LA cargo totals are set to drop by around a third year on year.
GDP was negative because of only two components:
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 30, 2025
- Trade/Imports subtracted 4.83% on tariff frontrunning
- Government subtracted 0.25%, first negative govt "contribution" since 2022 pic.twitter.com/6Ng0qyQCZ5The only way to make any kind of forecast is to try to project what will happen in the bigger scheme of things. Or, to laugh at President Trump posting, ‘This isn’t my stock market’, because it’s going down, three months after claiming, ‘This is my stock market’, because it was going up, and presume there is no pattern to anything that’s going on. Rather than indulge in the latter, which is easy, let’s try the former, which is hard.
In the trade war, the US Senate narrowly rejected an attempt to overturn Trump’s tariffs: we are stuck with them until he decides we aren’t. On which, Trump said he expects a great relationship with PM Carney, which may not bode well for Canada, as Alberta’s Premier laid down the law to the PM and flirted with the idea of independence.
Moreover, the USTR says several trade deals are “close”, again: again, it’s Japan, South Korea, and India being name-dropped. If/when a first deal is signed, markets will have a clearer idea of what lies ahead: yet Trump just said he’s in no rush, and as we’ve laid out, what lies ahead likely involves a new bloc vs China that would resolve many uncertainties while creating vast new ones.
Anyone thinking better US-China trade ties are on the cards too, which apparently includes the US President in his latest comments, isn’t paying much attention (including to the headline writers not noting that he said this deal would be “on our terms” and “fair”). Rather, at the very least, escalation to deescalate is underway.
Congress just reintroduced a bipartisan SHIPS bill to increase US shipbuilding, targeting 250 commercial vessels over the next decade, which includes the dropped USTR port fee for non-Chinese firms ordering China-built ships; subsidies for US shipbuilders; preferential treatment for US cargo; and requiring a rising % of US imports from China be transported on US-built ships. All this will have a disruptive effect on global trade we’ve already spelled out; yet the emergence of such legislation was predictable to those who read maritime history rather than just Bloomberg.
Moreover, China, whose PMI data yesterday showed trade war impact, was also reported to be months away from running out of copper: it’s not just the West that is reliant on key imports: and the US knows what they are and where they get them from.
As such, on the geopolitical front --which is joined at the hip to trade-- things are also moving.
The US and Ukraine signed the 50/50 minerals investment deal. Treasury Secretary Bessent stated: “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.” Kyiv hopes the US may also increase defence aid, which would be useful given Europe and the UK just admitted they can’t find enough troops for the peacekeeping contribution they’ll have to make.
Many decrying Trump trying a statecraft Noxin (reverse Nixon) will cheer a US hard line vs Russia. However, the alternative means economic statecraft against Moscow: Senator Graham is pushing legislation to impose 500% secondary tariffs on anyone who buys Russian energy, which would have a destabilising impact on energy markets. Would those decriers call for actual war but not economic warfare, “because markets”? Would Russia buckle and strike peace and Noxin deals?
The troika of Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson, and Donald Trump, Jr. make clear they don’t want war with Iran even if the terms of a deal --no more uranium enrichment-- seem unreachable, and Israel remains implacable in its opposition to a can-kicking exercise that sees it carry the realpolitik can if Iran then builds a nuke. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, trying to please the US, said that it will keep pumping oil even as prices decline.
On two related fronts we have either a sustained bear market in oil or a rapid geopolitical move higher. Interestingly, and relatedly, the US Koch brothers just exited energy trading in what is being described as a “retreat from speculation.” NB that’s exactly what economic statecraft wants to see, as commodities, not “because markets”, are going to be a key focus of it ahead.
Moreover, things are moving in the financial system too, and not just in terms of bond yields grinding lower in DM but moving higher in EM like Argentina and Brazil. Yesterday, the US Treasury released a report on dollar stablecoin usage with huge implications for the structure of markets, and which benefits the US over others. They talk of higher deposit rates, a huge inflow into US T-bills, and much more – and most of it benefitting the US at the expense of others. Does that make it more or less likely to happen ahead? I’m asking for a friend who usually focuses on GDP.
In short, we have sharply binary geopolitical outcomes ahead and either: sustained trade chaos, with one set of implications for the world economy; or a US retreat, with another set of implications (and second, third, nth order effects the people who want to see it happen don’t grasp at all); or a clear global bifurcation between the US and China across still-variable geography and asset classes.
Please put that all into your GDP model and tell me what it says.
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Site: LifeNews
New York’s state Assembly voted April 29 to legalize physician-assisted suicide, advancing a deeply controversial bill that opponents say undermines the sanctity of life and endangers the vulnerable.
The bill, known as the Medical Aid in Dying Act, passed 81-67 after hours of debate and years of failed attempts, the New York Post reported. The law would allow mentally competent adults with a terminal diagnosis of six months or less to request a prescription for life-ending drugs.
Several lawmakers voiced strong moral objections during the floor debate.
“Each and every life has value,” Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, R-Saratoga, said. “Progress may not be on a straight line and will look different to each of us, but this idea of giving up and dying is not excelsior, ever upward. It’s incredibly sad.”
Walsh was joined by about 20 Democrats who broke ranks to vote against the bill, including Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Erie.
“I watched my mom die. I watched my daughter die,” Peoples-Stokes said. “At some point or the other, we’re all going to go, but I don’t believe there should be a combination of six drugs offered to someone to end their life.”
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Westchester, the bill’s sponsor, said her sister’s death from ovarian cancer inspired her to push for the legislation.
While the measure now heads to the Senate, its future remains uncertain. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Westchester, said she’s open to discussion but made no commitment to a vote. Gov. Kathy Hochul has also stayed silent on whether she would sign the bill if it reaches her desk.
Religious leaders and disability rights advocates remain staunchly opposed.
“New York State should instead strengthen palliative care, improve health care services and counseling for people in crisis and show America what real compassion looks like,” said Robert Bellafiore, spokesperson for the New York State Catholic Conference, according to the New York Post.
In a broader warning against the bill, the conference pointed to the evolving situation in Canada as a cautionary example. Since Canada legalized assisted suicide in 2015 for those with terminal and painful illnesses, the criteria have widened to include individuals with non-terminal but “intolerable” conditions.
Canadian policymakers have also proposed expanding eligibility to those with mental illness and even “mature minors,” according to the conference.
“These shocking developments prove that such a law, even with so-called safeguards, devalues human life,” the conference stated. “Implementing assisted suicide as an accepted medical ‘treatment’ sends the message that our most vulnerable populations are not worth the resources it might take to improve their lives. Those most at risk of being taken advantage of and discarded by the health system will be endangered further.”
LifeNews Note: Rachel Quackenbush writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Pro-Life Groups Fight to Stop New York Bill to Legalize Assisted Suicide appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeMedicaid, SALT, & SNAP Debates Threaten Trump Agenda As Reconciliation Deadline LoomsTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 11:25
As House Republicans race to pass President Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package, serious internal divisions remain unresolved, casting doubt over whether the party can meet its own ambitious deadlines.
Speaker Mike Johnson has set a tight three-week window to pass a massive reconciliation bill intended to enact the core of Trump’s economic agenda. Yet as of May 1, lawmakers remain deadlocked on several of the package’s most contentious provisions, from tax policy to cuts in federal safety-net programs.
“We’re working through each of the final issues,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Punchbowl News, acknowledging that the package is “coming down the wire” even as four committees have already advanced their legislative proposals. Behind the scenes, however, critical components of the legislation remain in flux.
Major Tax Questions Still Unanswered
Nowhere is the uncertainty more apparent than in the House Ways and Means Committee, where the $4.5 trillion tax section of the package remains in limbo. A formal markup has not been scheduled, though May 8 is being discussed as a target date, Punchbowl reports.
One of the most intractable issues is the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap. Several Republican lawmakers from high-tax states, especially New York, are pressing for the $10,000 cap to be lifted or substantially increased. Speaker Johnson met Wednesday with members of the SALT Caucus to gather “final feedback” before a new cap is finalized.
But lawmakers involved in the talks described them as far from conclusive. “We’re still far away from being done,” said Representative Nick LaLota, Republican of New York. Proposals to raise the cap to $25,000 have failed to unify the group, and disagreements persist over how to address the so-called marriage penalty, which currently imposes the same cap on joint filers as on single taxpayers.
For GOP reps like LaLota and Mike Lawler, also of New York, resolving the SALT issue is politically non-negotiable.
Medicaid Cuts Draw Moderate Resistance
Similar discord surrounds proposed Medicaid changes. Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee continue to deliberate over how to achieve $880 billion in savings, a task that has sparked pushback from centrist members concerned about the scale of potential cuts.
Representative Juan Ciscomani of Arizona said talks were “making progress” following a meeting with Committee Chair Brett Guthrie. Still, disagreements remain, particularly over proposals to impose per capita caps on Medicaid spending - a sticking point for members like Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, who supports no more than $500 billion in total reductions.
“For them to do any more,” Mr. Bacon said, “they’re going to have to prove it doesn’t hurt people’s health care or hospitals.”
Energy and Commerce is scheduled to hold a markup on May 7, with Republicans on the panel meeting again Thursday morning to try to bridge remaining divides.
Food Stamp Reform in Flux
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has also emerged as a flashpoint. The House Agriculture Committee is under pressure to find $230 billion in savings but has yet to finalize a plan.
Chair Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania is opposed to cutting benefits and instead favors a cost-sharing model that would shift more of the financial burden to states. However, that idea has drawn criticism from both the White House and within the Republican conference.
Mr. Bacon has suggested a simpler solution: scale back the required savings. “They need to lower the $230 [billion] to $100 [billion],” he said.
Mr. Thompson has signaled that he does not want to see changes to the Thrifty Food Plan, a government benchmark for SNAP benefit levels. But the path forward remains unclear as Republicans weigh political risks and the Trump administration awaits feedback on key proposals.
Clock's ticking guys...
Trump administration officials have indicated they want Congress to complete the reconciliation process by July 4. Yet with major pieces of the package still unresolved, that deadline appears increasingly difficult to meet.
The current impasse reflects a broader challenge facing House Republicans: how to reconcile ideological differences within their own ranks while moving forward on a sprawling policy package. Each committee’s internal debate has created ripple effects, complicating the broader legislative effort.
The coming weeks will test whether the Republican leadership can align its members around the former president’s agenda - or whether the reconciliation effort will stall under the weight of unresolved conflicts.
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Site: LifeNews
Texas Senators passed the Woman and Child Protection Act, which would crack down on abortion pills sent in the mail or brought in from other states and countries. On the same day, the Life of the Mother Act and Conscience Protections for Health Care Professionals also passed the Texas Senate.
These are big wins, with half of the legislative process now complete for the Pro-Life measures! Lawmakers now have less than a month to move Pro-Life policies across the finish line.
The Woman and Child Protection Act (SB 2880 & HB 5510) seeks to combat the growing threat of abortion pills being sent to Texas from other states and countries. If passed, Texas will become the first to attack the abortion industry’s underground network—setting a powerful example for the rest of the nation to follow. Thankfully, the act has already been heard in a House committee. This measure must now be quickly voted to the next step before being debated by all the representatives and then signed into law by the governor.
The Woman and Child Protection Act is one of two Pro-Life Priority Bills. The second, the Stop Tax-Funded Abortion Travel Act, already passed the Senate and is waiting to be heard in a committee in the Texas House of Representatives.
Click Like if you are pro-life to like the LifeNews Facebook page!
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The Senate also advanced two recommended bills, the Life of the Mother Act (SB 31 & HB 44) and the Conscience Protections for Healthcare Professionals Act (SB 619 & HB 2816).
The Life of the Mother Act will offer free training to doctors and hospital attorneys on how to treat pregnant women in emergencies and follow Pro-Life laws. The measure would ensure health care professionals have confidence when addressing life-threatening pregnancy complications but would not add loopholes that would harm preborn babies. Pro-Life laws in Texas already allow doctors to intervene if the mother’s life is at risk, but false media reports have led hospital staff to believe otherwise. This bill seeks to resolve this, highlighting once again that Pro-Life protections and emergency care work in harmony.
Lastly, Senate Bill 619 would protect health care workers from being punished for refusing to take part in procedures that violate their beliefs. It expands current protections while still requiring emergency and life-saving care.
Each bill must now move through the House committee process. The Woman and Child Protection Act only needs to be voted out of the committee, since it has already had a hearing. However, the other bills still need to be heard in a committee meeting before they can move on to the next step. If passed from committee, each bill must then be scheduled by the Calendars Committee and voted upon by all the representatives before May 27.
This legislative session could be one of the most impactful yet for the Pro-Life movement in Texas—but the fight isn’t over! These bills now face their final steps in the House, and we need every voice to speak up.
Your prayers, advocacy, and support can help turn these tentative victories into lasting laws that protect mothers, save babies, and hold the abortion industry accountable. Together, we can make history and ensure Texas continues to lead the nation in defending Life.
Click here to contact your lawmakers to support the bill.
The post Texas Senate Passes Bill Stopping Abortion Pills appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: The Remnant Newspaper - Remnant ArticlesEminences, you know that this situation in which the hierarchy of the Church persecutes Traditional Catholics would be comical were it not so tragic. Please elect a shepherd for all Catholics, including those who humbly wish to follow the only Gospel that St. Paul would recognize as Christian.
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Site: Henrymakow.com
Please send links and comments to hmakow@gmail.comWhy Did Trump Snub Canada's Trump?Was this Canada's last election as a united nation?Canada is Fractured on a West-East BasisPierre Poilevre was considered "Canada's Trump"Many Conservatives supported TrumpPoilievre and his supporters were Zionists like Trump.Yet Trump endorsed Carnage?Trump says Poilievre said "negative things about him" so he prefers CarneyCarnage is the polar opposite of Trump, a Communist in the Communist-Zionist Illuminati charade.He is opposed to Trump's Gaza genocide.Poilievre should have made a deal with Trump (i.e. kissed his ass) the moment he saw the polls were leaningtoward the Liberals. He was still campaigning on "axe the carbon tax" when he should have been presenting himself as the man who made a deal with Trump.Was this an honest error? Or was it deliberate?Trump's betrayal of a Canadian nationalist reminds me of how the Nazis destroyed their nationalist allies in Romania.They would not foster any other nationalism but their own.Trump's plot may be for Western Canada to join the US! There are many calls for separation which inevitably would mean union with the US.Poilievre, Carney and Danielle Smith may be in on it. They're all Freemasons like Trump.--
Trump says Poilievre "said negative things about him" so he prefers CarneyAlberta's Exit Plan: Will It Become the 51st State?Was Canada's break up part of Trump's strategy?Read the comments. Western Canadians are finshed with CanadaAlberta wants OUT? Constitutional lawyer explains REFERENDUM changes and path to independenceThe four Maritime provinces have a third of Alberta's population but more seats in Parliament----ICE in First 100 Days: Almost 70K Illegals Arrested, Nearly 66K Removed; 75 Percent Dangerous CriminalsU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement collared almost 70,000 illegal aliens during the first 100 days of the Trump administration, and removed almost 66,000, the vast majority of whom were criminals.As well, the agency reported today, thousands of the deportees were terrorists linked to the gangs that President Donald Trump labeled terrorist organizations on Day 1 of his presidency. Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show a 90-percent drop of encounters at the southwest border.-
The Masonic handshake between Fidelito and Danielle Smith is now available on video.Senate Republicans added an amendment to bipartisan legislation addressing rising antisemitism on college campuses that could be seen as a concession to Christian conservatives who want to protect those who preach that the Jews killed Jesus.Senate committee approves amendment to Antisemitism Awareness Act stating criticism of Israeli government isn't antisemiticSen. Bernie Sanders proposed the amendment as well as two others-Chabad Errand Boy Putin condemns antisemitism in RussiaViewer--"I'm pretty sure Putin knows who caused the massacre of 40+ million Christians in Russia before WW2...So hearing this out of him makes me lose faith in him quite a bit..."-FBI agents seen kneeling in infamous George Floyd protest picture demotedBut the change comes amid a broader effort by President Donald Trump's new FBI Director Kash Patel to root out what the president has called 'woke' and politicized elements within the bureau.Some who worked on criminal cases against Trump and led field offices across the country have reportedly also been removed from their positions, often without any reason, according to the Washington Post.-
Graph showing the growth of Chinese world trade vs US world trade-From 2000 to 2024, US trade expanded 167% compared to China's 1200% growth.By 2024 total trade reached $5.3 T for the US and $6.2 T for China.---Canada the IllusionCanada never was a sovereign independent nation.-Alex Soros fumes at left-wing climate group over 'Palestine' obsession: 'What the hell...All they do is talk about Palestine'In an interview with New York Magazine in which he detailed his plans to fund efforts to foil the Trump administration's agenda, Soros expressed his frustration with the leftist environmentalist group "Sunrise Movement," which is heavily funded by Soros-backed organizations."What the hell did they do, by the way?" Soros, who is Jewish, complained. "We gave them money, and now all they do is talk about Palestine. It's ridiculous."-Makow -- Commie Soros defends Palestine genocide. They are joined at the top. -
Site: Zero HedgeThe Baby Hoax: Reporters Repeat False Narrative Over Child DeportationsTyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 10:25
For years, the mainstream media has been criticized for open political bias, including repeating false narratives and claims.
There is little evidence that that will change despite falling revenues and audiences.
That was evident this week as leading journalists continued to raise a dubious claim about the Trump Administration deporting children, including cancer patients.
The media has been promulgating a false claim that children as young as four are being deported.
The Administration immediately stated that the decision rested with the mothers on whether they would take the children or leave them in the United States with family.
Many of the same figures accused of promulgating false stories quickly picked up the spin from the Washington Post.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, Kristen Welker pursued the narrative with Secretary of State Marco Rubio:
KRISTEN WELKER: Let’s talk now about some new reporting that came in overnight. I want just to go through it with you and for our audience. Three U.S. citizen children have been deported with their mothers. Now this is according to The Washington Post. The family’s lawyer says one of them is a 4-year-old with Stage 4 cancer, deported without medication or ability to contact doctors. The family’s lawyers are also saying their clients were denied communication with family and legal representatives before being deported, and it’s raising concerns about the issue of due process. That it’s being violated. So let me ask you, is everyone on U.S. soil, citizens and non-citizens, entitled to due process?
MARCO RUBIO: Yes, of course. But let me tell you, it looks- in immigration standing, the laws are very specific. If you are in the country unlawfully, you have no right to be here and you must be removed. That’s what the law says. Somehow over the last 20 years, we’ve completely lost this notion that somehow- or completely adopted this idea that yes, we have immigration laws but once you come into our country illegally it triggers all kinds of rights that can keep you here indefinitely. That’s why we were being flooded at the border, and we’ve ended that. And that’s why you don’t- you see a historically low number of people not just trying to cross our border, trying to cross the border into Panama, all the way down in the Darien Gap. I mean- i it’s been a huge help for those countries as well. On the headline- that’s a misleading headline. Okay? Three U.S. Citizens, ages 4, 7 and 2 were not deported. Their mothers who were illegally in this country were deported. The children went with their mothers. Those children are U.S. citizens- they can come back into the United States- there’s- their father or someone here who wants to assume them. But ultimately who was deported was the mother- their mothers who were here illegally. The children just went with their mothers. But it wasn’t like- you guys make it sound like ICA agents kicked down the door and grabbed the 2 year-old and threw them on an airplane. That’s misleading. That’s just not true.
That would ordinarily leave a journalist looking at their shoes in embarrassment, but Welker decided to double down and add the claim that children are being denied “due process”:
WELKER: Just to be clear, because I do want to get to the overhaul at the State Department. Is it the U.S. policy to deport children, even U.S. citizens, with their families- and I hear what you’re saying- without due process? Just to be very clear there.
RUBIO: Well- no, no, no. No, no. Again, if someone is in this country unlawfully, illegally, that person gets deported. If that person is with a 2-year-old child or has a 2-year-old child and says “I want to take my child with you- with me,” well then you have two choices. You can say yes, of course, you can take your child whether they’re a citizen or not because it’s your child or you can say yes, you can go, but your child must stay behind. And then your headlines would read, “U.S. holding hostage 2-year old, 4-year-old, 7-year-old, while mother deported.”
There is a great deal of litigation working through the courts on the level of due process required for deportations. The public overwhelmingly supports the deportation of unlawful immigrants and elected Trump based on his pledge to carry out such deportations. Unlawful immigrants often spend years in this country despite orders of deportation or removal. The level of review depends on their status. If they have previously entered unlawfully, they are subject to expedited removal.
The critical point, however, is that the children are not being deported.
If they were born in this country, they are still treated as U.S. citizens (though the Administration is challenging birthright citizenship in the courts).
Having a child in the United States does not make parents immune from removal or afford them special legal status over other deportees.
Over at CBS, Margaret Brennan (who was criticized for her “fact checks” in the presidential debate) also jumped on the narrative in interviewing Border Czar Tom Homan on Face the Nation:
MARGARET BRENNAN: On Friday, there were three American citizen children, born here, who were deported along with their mothers from Louisiana down to Honduras. And according to advocates, one of them is a 4-year-old child with Stage Four cancer. A rare form of metastatic cancer who was sent back to Honduras without getting to talk to a doctor and without medication. I understand this child’s mother entered this country illegally. But isn’t there some basis for compassionate consideration here that should have allowed for more consultation or treatment?
TOM HOMAN: Well, it certainly is discretionary. I’m not aware of this specific case. But no U.S. citizen child was deported. Deported means you gotta be ordered — reported by the immigration judge. We don’t deport U.S. citizens.
BRENNAN: The mother was deported along with the children.
HOMAN: These children- Children aren’t deported. The mother chose to take the children with her. When you enter the country illegally and you know you are here illegally and you choose to have a U.S. citizen child, that’s on you. That’s not on this administration. If you choose to put your family in that position, that’s on them. But having a U.S. citizen child, after you enter this country illegally, is not a “get out of jail free” card. It doesn’t make you immune from our laws. If that’s the message we send to the entire world, women are going to keep putting themselves at risk and come to this country. We send a message: you can enter the country illegally, that’s okay, you can have due process at great taxpayer expense, get ordered to move, that’s OK. Don’t leave, but have a U.S. citizen child and you are immune from removal? That’s not the way it works.
BRENNAN: So you don’t think there should be compassionate consideration for a 4-year-old child undergoing treatment for cancer?
HOMAN: I didn’t say that. I said ICE officers do have discretion-
BRENNAN: That was the question.
HOMAN: ICE officers do have discretion. I’m not familiar with the specific case. I don’t know what facts surround this case. I was just made aware of this when you mentioned it this morning. I was not aware of that case.
Brennan correctly noted that a court recently found a lack of due process in a child’s case. However, Holman had a reasonable response in citing the mother’s election in this one case to leave with her child.
BRENNAN: On Friday, a federal judge who was appointed by President Trump said a 2-year-old American citizen child had been sent to Honduras with the mother. But the judge said, quote: “there was no meaningful process.” So again, this is another similar situation and dynamic. Shouldn’t there be special care when the deportation cases involve small American-born children?
HOMAN: First of all, I disagree with the judge. There was due process. That female had due process at great taxpayer expense and was ordered by an immigration judge after those hearings. So she had due process. Again, this is Parenting 101. And you can decide to take that child with you or you can decide to leave the child here with a relative or another spouse. Having a child doesn’t make you immune from our laws of the country. American families get separated every day by law enforcement- thousands of times a day. When a parent gets put in jail, the child can’t go with them. If you are an illegal alien and you come to this country and you decide to have a U.S. citizen child, that’s on you. You put yourself in that position.
BRENNAN: Well, when it came to this particular case, you just pointed out that they could have made arrangements. The father tried, actually, to make arrangements as we understand it through our reporting. But he and the mother who were separated, since she was in detention after showing up for her appointment, was only allowed a very brief phone call. The father tried to petition to get the child handed over to an American citizen relative. So the mother had to make this decision and took the child with her. It just seems like there could be some more time frame here around due process allowed. That’s what the judge is saying, is saying- there should have been more of a process here.
HOMAN: There was due process. The 2-year-old baby- the two year old baby was left with the mother because the mother signed a document requesting her 2-year-old baby go with her. That’s the parent’s decision. I don’t think the judge knows the specifics of this case. The 2-year-old went with the mom. The mom signed a paper saying, “I want my 2-year-old to go with me.” That’s a parent’s decision. It’s not a government decision, it’s a parent’s decision.
BRENNAN: The father wrote a note. Anyhow, we have to leave it there, Director. Thank you for your time today. We’ll be right back.
It is important to note that these are two very different cases that were blended into the coverage.
In the second case, the government insists that there was no prior arrangement for the child to be left with the family and that the mother made this decision.
ICE should endeavor to accommodate such requests and there should always be an inquiry into allegations that these women were prevented from making arrangements for their children to remain in the country. However, there will also be practical limits in addressing those issues in the midst of a removal.
If Homan is correct, the mother was in the system long before the actual removal. The father “sending a note” at the end of that process is worth looking into, but it is hardly surprising that the removal proceeded with the mother’s consent.
The same narrative was playing over at ABC as Martha Raddatz had this exchange with former DoJ spokesperson Sarah Isgur:
MARTHA RADDATZ: Sarah, I want to turn here to some information that has been in The Washington Post about deportations of very young children who are American citizens. A 2-year-old, a 4-year-old, a 7-year-old sent back to Honduras. Is that legal?
SARAH ISGUR: This is something our immigration system deals with nearly every day. U.S. citizen children have to make that decision with their parents of whether they’re going to stay. The parent has the decision. We do not allow illegal alien parents to stay just because they have custody over U.S. citizen children, and at least one of these cases with the 2-year-old, the mother was the one who made the decision to take her daughter with her. The father is the one saying he wanted the daughter to stay here. Often times, it’s going to look more like a custody dispute than an immigration question.
Again, as Isgur correctly points out, this is the election of the parents who are being removed.
Critics have pushed back on these interviews, noting how the media seemed only marginally interested in thousands of children lost in the system under the Biden Administration as millions poured over the border.
The coverage suggested that children were being thrown on planes to be dumped in some foreign land.
The Washington Post, which is cited for the story, has been repeatedly accused of pushing misleading or false narratives. There was a recent riot in the newsroom when owner Jeff Bezos demanded that the newspaper return to more balanced coverage.
The most telling condemnation came from Post columnist Philip Bump, who wrote “what the actual f**k.” Bump has been repeatedly accused of false claims and previously had a meltdown in an interview when confronted about past false claims. After I wrote a column about the litany of such false claims, the Post surprised many of us by stating that it stood by all of Bump’s reporting, including false columns on the Lafayette Park protests, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and other stories. That was long after other media debunked the claims, but the Post stood by the false reporting.
We have previously discussed the sharp change in culture at the Post, which became an outlet that pushed anti-free speech views and embraced advocacy journalism. The result was that many moderates and conservatives stopped reading the newspaper.
In my book on free speech, I discuss at length how the Post and the mainstream media have joined an alliance with the government and corporations in favor of censorship and blacklisting. I once regularly wrote for the Post and personally witnessed the sharp change in editorial priorities as editors delayed or killed columns with conservative or moderate viewpoints.
Last year, that culture was vividly on display when the newspaper offered no objection or even qualification after its reporter, Cleve Wootson Jr., appeared to call upon the White House to censor the interview of Elon Musk with former President Donald Trump. Under the guise of a question, Wootson told White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “I think that misinformation on Twitter is not just a campaign issue…it’s an America issue.”
The baby hoax shows that little has (or likely will) changed. In the meantime, the public is moving on. New media is rising as mainstream media audiences shrink. Journalists and columnists are increasingly writing for each other as polling shows trust in the media is at an all-time low.
Robert Lewis, a British media executive who joined the Post, reportedly got into a “heated exchange” with a staffer. Lewis explained that, while reporters were protesting measures to expand readership, the very survival of the paper was now at stake:
“We are going to turn this thing around, but let’s not sugarcoat it. It needs turning around,” Lewis said. “We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”
It simply does not matter. The media continues to vigorously saw on the branch upon which it is sitting.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
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Site: Zero Hedge'Beneficial Switching Away From Imports' - US Manufacturing Surveys Signal No Recession In Q2Tyler Durden Thu, 05/01/2025 - 10:09
Following a slew of regional Fed surveys (and various other sentiment readings) sending 'soft' data dramatically lower (as 'hard' data continues to strengthen), this morning's Manufacturing PMIs are expected to signal further weakness.
Source: Bloomberg
The final S&P Global Manufacturing PMI did indeed disappoint, sliding from 50.7 flash print to 50.2 - exactly in line with March's final print (but below the 50.5 expected).
ISM's Manufacturing PMI beat expectations, printing 48.7 (down from the 49.0 in March but better than the 47.9 expectations) - lowest since Nov 2024.
So Hard data up, PMI flat, ISM down... take your pick
But none of the three factors point to a recession:
“The past relationship between the Manufacturing PMI® and the overall economy indicates that the April reading (48.7 percent) corresponds to a change of +1.8 percent in real gross domestic product (GDP) on an annualized basis,” says ISM's Timothy Fiore.
Under the hood, all the main components beat expectations with New Orders and Employment improving and Prices Paid rising (but less than expected)...
Admittedly, respondents are fearful of the impact of tariffs to come:
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“Uncertainty over tariffs is providing a big challenge from both Tier-1 suppliers we will have to pay tariffs on directly and Tier-2 suppliers that will try to pass tariffs through to us in the form of price increases and tariff surcharges.” [Chemical Products]
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“Tariffs impacting operations — specifically, delayed border crossings and duties calculations that are complex and not completely understood. As a result, we are potentially overpaying duties. Unsure of potential drawbacks. Implementation of tariffs and their application is sudden and abrupt. The business is taking countermeasures.” [Transportation Equipment]
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“Business climate is apprehensive, and with tariff costs implemented, all inbound Chinese shipments are on hold. It is not feasible for our business or customers to sustain the pricing required to provide an acceptable margin.” [Computer & Electronic Products]
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“The most important topic is tariffs. Risks include margin erosion due to rising operational costs and freight delays disrupting delivery timelines. Supplier relationships are strained by pain-share negotiations, and competitors are gaining share by importing from lower-tariff regions.” [Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products]
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“Tariff whiplash is causing us major issues with customers. The two issues we are seeing: (1) customers are holding back orders to understand what is happening with tariffs on their products or (2) they are forcing us to accept the tariffs, which causes us to ‘no quote’ the job as we cannot take on that type of risk for an order.” [Machinery]
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“There is a lot of concern about the inflationary impacts from tariffs in our industry. Domestic producers are charging more for everything because they can.” [Fabricated Metal Products]
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“Tariff trade wars are incredibly volatile, quickly changing, and disrupting a ton of our current work. We are 90 percent sourced out of China, and the cost models keep changing every week. We are flying to visit suppliers in a few weeks to negotiate current terms and pricing, as well as develop more long-term, strategic plans to reduce risk in the region.” [Apparel, Leather & Allied Products]
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“Demand is slightly lower than plan, but it has been steady amid tariff concerns. Significant time has been spent quantifying the impact of changing tariff rates. Our costs will increase, and we are discussing how to share that impact across suppliers and customers.” [Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components]
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“The recently imposed 145-percent tariff rate on Chinese imports is significantly affecting our 2025 profitability. Due to the complexity of our parts and the lack of alternate sources, we are unable to find any alternate suppliers — especially at a reasonable cost — to our current Chinese sources. Incoming orders have slowed due to market volatility and uncertainty.” [Miscellaneous Manufacturing]
"Manufacturing continued to flat-line in April amid worrying downside risks to the outlook and sharply rising costs," said Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
"Factory output fell for a second successive month as tariffs were widely blamed on a slump in export orders and curbed spending among customers more broadly amid rising uncertainty.
But, even they were forced to admit a small silver lining in the report...
"Although the survey saw some producers report evidence of beneficial tariff-related switching of customer demand away from imports, any such sales increase was countered by worries over tariff-related disruptions to supply chains and lost export sales.
This served to drive business confidence about prospects in the year ahead down sharply to the gloomiest for 10 months.
And just like all the other surveys, PMI respondents sees Prices rising...
"Concerns have also spiked in terms of input costs, especially for imported materials and components, due to the triple whammy of tariff-related price hikes, supply shortages, and the weaker dollar.
"Manufacturers are responding to these changing demand, supply and cost conditions by raising their selling prices and trimming headcounts to help protect their margins."
So, take what you will from this - are these data points a reflection of reality or the incessant FUD being peddled by the mainstream media?
If you need a reminder, as we noted earlier, there is a massive gap between what CEOs are saying and what CEOs are doing...
Corporate CEOs are just like Long Onlies on Wall Street: everyone is "apocalyptic", nobody is selling....
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 1, 2025
only here everyone is "apocalyptic", and nobody is firing pic.twitter.com/Wtu0uNeRqtWill CEOs suddenly announce massive waves of layoffs, or, with stocks now having erased all of the post-Liberation Day losses, will CEOs suddenly find a renewed optimism?
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
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Dr Yuriko RyanBy Dr Yuriko Ryan
On March 21, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities issued a resounding call, featured in the Globe and Mail article, “Canada must repeal medical assistance in dying (MAiD) for individuals without terminal illnesses.” This global mandate is more than a mere bureaucratic policy recommendation. It represents a global clarion call to confront a dangerous policy trajectory to a country once known for safeguarding human rights. Reckless expansions of MAiD beyond imminent death not only weaken our social safety net but also imperils the very dignity and human rights Canada proclaims to protect.
The Broken Safety Net and the Rights Fallacy
When MAiD expansions encompass chronic disabilities or severe mental health challenges, they stray from the essence of our basic rights to life. Blake Murdoch’s April 22, 2024, opinion piece—“Canada’s broken social safety net pushes people toward assisted dying”— lays bare the systemic gaps forcing desperate choices. It becomes painfully clear that our society is failing those who need care the most. For the UN, fundamental human rights are about ensuring that every person receives the respect, dignity, and security inherent in their existence, setting a global standard for freedom and equality. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as part of Canada’s supreme law, similarly protects these core rights, providing a legal backbone that guarantees a life of dignity and freedom for everyone in Canada. Ensuring a dignified life and securing the existence of individuals living with disabilities and facing mental health challenges is a critical necessity in Canada.
Humanity Under Siege: A Slippery Slope Toward Devaluing Life
Broadening MAiD eligibility sends a chilling message that some lives are deemed less worthy of support. This approach risks transforming what should be a humane response to suffering into a mechanism that subtly coerces the vulnerable toward death. As highlighted by Dr. Ramona Coelho in “Canadians with disabilities are dying needlessly” (October 28, 2024), inadequate disability and mental health supports are directly linked to the increasing reliance on “medically” assisted dying. When death becomes an all-too-accessible solution to systemic social failures, Canada edges dangerously close to practices observed in nations with tarnished human rights records.
A Crisis of Priorities: The Undermining of Basic Human Rights
While Canadians are currently bombarded with political campaign promises about the economy, housing, and border security, we must not lose sight of our nation’s foundational value: respect for human dignity. These policy debates, crucial as they are, cannot flourish on a bedrock of policies that allow the vulnerable to be set aside. When the state offers death as an alternative to genuine care, every political pitch on economic growth or secure borders rings hollow. The UN’s urgent demand to repeal non-terminal MAiD is a stark reminder that without a commitment to upholding basic human rights, all other achievements come at a moral cost.
Legislative Lapses and the Pressure of Ideological Elites
The current policy environment is marred by the legislative lapses and the influence of ideological elites closely tied with MAiD expansionists. Bill C-7 did expand the MAiD framework to include a pathway for individuals whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable. Notably, the MAiD expansion to encompass mental illness as the sole underlying medical condition was proposed, as an add-on to the Bill, by a senator who is also a psychiatrist. Despite the proposal’s clear implications for vulnerable populations, it remains unimplemented amid significant push-back from both citizens and various political factions. This hesitancy underscores how, in some cases, legislators can cease to be steadfast guardians of human rights. The writings of ideological elites, Karl Binding, a controversial jurist, and Alfred Hoche, a psychiatrist, in Allowing the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life during 1920s Germany, stand as grim historical precedents for today’s trajectory in Canada—a society that privileges “the strong and fit” while abandoning its most vulnerable.
A Call for True Compassion and Concrete Reform
The UN’s emphatic message compels us to reassess not only our legal framework but our entire moral compass. Repealing non-terminal MAiD is not a rejection of individual autonomy, it is a necessary stand for the inherent worth of every life. If Canada fails to address these systemic issues, every political win claiming to improve the economy or secure our borders will be undermined by a failure to respect basic human rights.
Canada now stands at a crossroads. As millions of Canadians head to the polls later this month, the powerful public voices in the media alongside the global call from the UN, compel us to choose the path of true compassion and reform. It is time to put human dignity first by repealing non-terminal MAiD and reaffirming the values upon which our great North is built.Your powerful voice matters.
Dr. Yuriko Ryan is a Canadian bioethicist and gerontologist who explores emerging topics including end-of-life care, mental health and addiction, and artificial intelligence. She is an ethicist with more than 25 years experience in health policy research and healthcare administration. She has a doctorate in bioethics and a Master's degree in gerontology from Simon Fraser University.
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Site: Steyn OnlineLaura Rosen Cohen shares her collection of excellent links from around the world this week...
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Site: LifeNews
An Obama-appointed judge who blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order denying federal funds to jurisdictions refusing to cooperate with federal immigration officials also protected the abortion industry by barring the release of undercover videos exposing the sale of aborted baby body parts.
“Defendants and their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and any other persons who are in active concert or participation with them ARE HEREBY RESTRAINED AND ENJOINED from directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds from the Cities and Counties,” wrote U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick of San Francisco in an April 24 ruling.
“Here we are again,” Orrick said, citing his prior ruling blocking Trump’s executive order defunding sanctuary cities during the president’s first term.
HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation!
“The Cities and Counties have also demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm,” the judge continued. “The threat to withhold funding causes them irreparable injury in the form of budgetary uncertainty, deprivation of constitutional rights, and undermining trust between the Cities and Counties and the communities they serve.”
The day after Orrick’s ruling, George Washington University law professor and legal analyst Jonathan Turley told Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that Orrick has “created one of the most ‘problematic’ cases challenging the president’s authority.”
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly said they want to stop national injunctions,” Turley commented to guest host Kayleigh McEnany, as reported by the Daily Caller. “The one in San Francisco, I think, is very problematic … I think the judge pulled the trigger too fast.”
Turley in a Monday column elaborated that in Trump’s executive order titled Protecting the American People against Invasion, the president ordered his attorney general and secretary of Homeland Security to “evaluate and undertake any lawful actions to ensure that so-called ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions, which seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations, do not receive access to Federal funds.”
“Orrick noted that the term ‘sanctuary jurisdiction’ was not defined and dismissed the express reservation that such actions can only proceed to the extent that they are allowed under law,” Turley observed.
“The irony is that the opinion itself is overly broad and imprecise,” he noted. “There are indeed cases limiting the ability of the federal government to ‘commandeer’ states and cities into carrying out federal functions. However, there are also cases upholding the right to withhold federal funds that contravene federal laws and policies.”
“The operative language in the order is the focus on sanctuary policies that ‘interfere’ or prevent federal enforcement,” Turley asserted. “There must be some accommodation for the federal government in refusing to pay for the rope that it will hang by.”
Orrick’s rulings siding with those who are protecting illegal immigrants come a decade after his decisions backing the abortion industry when undercover journalists exposed industry officials and abortionists discussing the sale of the body parts of aborted babies.
Speaking as an individual to CatholicVote, undercover journalist David Daleiden, project lead of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), said Monday that Orrick’s “pro-abortion activism has been on display in his courtroom for years.”
“I will never forget the day he ruled against me because he said I failed to produce evidence of Planned Parenthood’s wrongdoing—after he had already ruled that my attorneys were not allowed to introduce evidence of Planned Parenthood’s wrongdoing,” the pro-life activist recalled.
In June 2017, as Breitbart News reported at the time, attorneys for Daleiden filed a motion requesting that Orrick be disqualified “on the grounds that there is evidence of bias in favor of the plaintiff and prejudice against the defendants.”
Just a month earlier, Orrick had ordered links to CMP’s videos exposing the sale of the body parts of aborted babies, as well as references to the identities of members of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), to be removed from the internet. Subsequently, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and other platforms deleted the videos from their sites.
Peter Breen, special counsel with the Thomas More Society – which represented Daleiden at the time – told Breitbart News the motion to disqualify a federal judge is “a very serious matter.”
“It’s not something that you do lightly, but in view of the evidence that has now come to light, we as attorneys are duty bound, at this point, to bring the motion to disqualify,” Breen said. “In fact, it would be malpractice for us not to. We believe the law requires disqualification.”
The evidence Breen cited during the interview at the time included:
- A Planned Parenthood affiliate that was a member of the National Abortion Federation held out Orrick “as an emeritus member of their board.”
- Orrick’s wife, reportedly pictured with her husband on Facebook, had also posted public comments that were supportive of Planned Parenthood and critical of the defendants in the case.
- In a document reported to contain Orrick’s responses to the Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, Orrick indicated he introduced, in June of 2009, Kamala Harris at a fundraiser for her campaign for the post of California attorney general. Additionally, he wrote, “I raised money and sponsored an event for the campaign of Kamala Harris for Attorney General in 2009, before I joined the Department of Justice.”
“Before joining the federal bench,” Daleiden told CatholicVote, “Judge Orrick helped open, fund, and operate the Planned Parenthood abortion referral clinic in San Francisco that sent pregnant migrant women to the exact Planned Parenthood abortion centers exposed on my videos for harvesting baby body parts.”
“Somehow, these same Planned Parenthood harvesting centers ensured that their lawsuit to ban the release of more undercover footage ended up in front of Judge Orrick,” Daleiden continued, “and he wasted no time ordering me and anyone who had seen the unreleased tapes to keep silent about what was on them.”
“Now ten years later, the public can see what Judge Orrick let Planned Parenthood cover up this whole time—top Planned Parenthood abortion directors giggling about selling late-term baby livers for $1,500 a piece, and scheming to cover up partial-birth abortions for organ harvesting by ripping off ‘a leg, or two’ from babies being born alive,” Daleiden said.
Footage from Daleiden’s investigation can be found here.
LifeNews Note: Susan Berry writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Judge Who Sided With Planned Parenthood on Selling Aborted Baby Parts Issues Another Crazy Ruling appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
I almost don’t know what to say about Pete Hegseth’s social media post (see above). It is juvenile, counterproductive and dangerous. During my time living in Central America, I learned a very important piece of wisdom… i.e., The fish dies by its mouth. We need a comparable expression for social media posts like this one. Hegseth, like some angry teenager, is upset that Trump’s version of Operation Prosperity Guardian is a bust.
Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), which was initiated in December 2023 under the Biden administration, continues to operate under its original name, but has been executed with an intensified ops tempo, as measured by bombing sorties and missile strikes inside Yemen. In February 2025, operational leadership transitioned from Combined Task Force 153 to Destroyer Squadron 50, a U.S. Navy surface warfare unit. The Trump team labored under the false assumption that the Biden folks did not make a serious effort to destroy the Houthis’ arsenal of missiles and drones. The Trumpers believed that they could bomb the Houthis into submission. Instead, the US is demonstrating to all countries in the region the limits of its naval and air power.
The truth of the matter is that old Uncle Sam has an impotence problem. Locating and destroying mobile missile platforms is a daunting task, especially in the rugged terrain of Yemen. After seven weeks of bombing the Houthis, Uncle Sam’s carrier strike group has failed to quell the Houthis. Not that the US had a great reputation to begin with, but the bombing of civilian targets inside Yemen, which has produced scores of dead women and children, is only fueling greater hatred of the United States.
Despite more than 600 bombing sorties, the Houthis continue to launch missiles and drones at US ships in the Red Sea and targets inside Israel. If Houthi reports are accurate, they have shot down one MQ-9 Reaper drone every week since the start — i.e., seven. With an average cost of $35 million per drone, that means the cost so far is $245 million.
Now, in the wake of the loss of another F/A-18 Hornet — this one fell off the carrier and sank into the Red Sea — Hegseth is venting his frustration at Iran. It is not Iran’s fault that the crew on the US aircraft carrier failed to properly secure the jet and the tractor, which fell off the carrier during an emergency evasive manuever. That was a $70 million oopsie. Since Trump’s 15 March order to renew attacks on Yemen, the US has lost almost $500 million in planes and drones and failed to guarantee safe passage for Israeli vessels daring to enter the Red Sea. Good job, Mr. Hegseth.
Reprinted with permission from Sonar21.
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Site: southern orders
THIS IS COPIED FROM A GOOGLE SEARCH AND ITS ARTIFICIAL INTELLENGENCE SUMMARY OF CARDINAL PELL’S LETTER OF 2022:AI Overview
Cardinal George Pell wrote a secret memo, released under the pseudonym "Demos," that heavily criticized Pope Francis's pontificate. The memo, published in 2022, labeled Francis's papacy a "catastrophe" and accused him of various failings, including inaction on issues like the Chinese Communist Party's influence and the German Church's questioning of traditional doctrines. The memo also called for a new pope to restore doctrinal clarity, respect for the law, and adherence to the apostolic tradition.Here's a more detailed look:Content of the Memo:- Strong Criticism:The memo was highly critical of Pope Francis's leadership, calling his papacy a "catastrophe".
- Accusations:It accused Francis of failing to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party, failing to adequately support Ukraine, and failing to address the German Church's deviations from traditional doctrines.
- Desired Qualities of the Next Pope:The memo outlined what the author saw as the necessary qualities for the next pope, including restoring normality, doctrinal clarity, respect for the law, and adherence to apostolic tradition.
- Emphasis on Tradition:The memo strongly emphasized the importance of fidelity to the teachings of Christ and Catholic practices, advocating for a return to tradition and against adapting to the world.
Background:- Cardinal Pell's Role:Cardinal Pell was a prominent figure in the Vatican, serving as the Secretary of the Economy from 2014 to 2019.
- Anonymous Release:The memo was released anonymously, initially under the pseudonym "Demos," which translates to "the people".
- Sandro Magister's Involvement:Italian journalist Sandro Magister, who published the memo on his blog, later revealed that Pell was the author.
- Pell's Permission for Disclosure:Magister claimed that Pell had given him permission to reveal his authorship after Pell's death.
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Site: southern orders
THIS IS COPIED FROM A GOOGLE SEARCH AND ITS ARTIFICIAL INTELLENGENCE SUMMARY OF CARDINAL PELL’S LETTER OF 2022:AI Overview
Cardinal George Pell wrote a secret memo, released under the pseudonym "Demos," that heavily criticized Pope Francis's pontificate. The memo, published in 2022, labeled Francis's papacy a "catastrophe" and accused him of various failings, including inaction on issues like the Chinese Communist Party's influence and the German Church's questioning of traditional doctrines. The memo also called for a new pope to restore doctrinal clarity, respect for the law, and adherence to the apostolic tradition.Here's a more detailed look:Content of the Memo:- Strong Criticism:The memo was highly critical of Pope Francis's leadership, calling his papacy a "catastrophe".
- Accusations:It accused Francis of failing to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party, failing to adequately support Ukraine, and failing to address the German Church's deviations from traditional doctrines.
- Desired Qualities of the Next Pope:The memo outlined what the author saw as the necessary qualities for the next pope, including restoring normality, doctrinal clarity, respect for the law, and adherence to apostolic tradition.
- Emphasis on Tradition:The memo strongly emphasized the importance of fidelity to the teachings of Christ and Catholic practices, advocating for a return to tradition and against adapting to the world.
Background:- Cardinal Pell's Role:Cardinal Pell was a prominent figure in the Vatican, serving as the Secretary of the Economy from 2014 to 2019.
- Anonymous Release:The memo was released anonymously, initially under the pseudonym "Demos," which translates to "the people".
- Sandro Magister's Involvement:Italian journalist Sandro Magister, who published the memo on his blog, later revealed that Pell was the author.
- Pell's Permission for Disclosure:Magister claimed that Pell had given him permission to reveal his authorship after Pell's death.
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