For many people today, practical atheism is the normal rule of life...If this attitude becomes a general existential position, then freedom no longer has any standards, then everyting is possible and permissible.
Distinction Matter - Subscribed Feeds
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Site: Vox Cantoris
Unlike 2013, I had no chills and did not feel the urge to vomit, which is a good thing because I was dining with friends at a churrasqueira. As the curtains opened, I first said, "Let's see how he's dressed." He vested as a pope should vest. He also did not say, "good evening," nor did he ask that we bless him because we cannot bless him, we have no authority over him, and he blessed us. That says a lot, as does his name. But, an American? For what it's worth, notwithstanding some of his various X reposts, it also appears that he's a registered Republican!
V. Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Leo.
R. Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius. [Ps 40:3]
Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum Leo, quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Pater Noster, Ave Maria.
V. Let us pray for Leo, our Pope.
R. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. [Ps 40:3]
Our Father, Hail Mary.
O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Leo, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, he may attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Site: Edward FeserPresident Trump has repeatedly called for U.S. acquisition of Greenland. The motivations have to do with Greenland’s strategic location and access to its mineral reserves. Neither the government of Denmark (of which Greenland is a territory), nor the people of Greenland themselves, are in favor of the idea. Not only is Trump undeterred by those facts, he has repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility of using military force to annex the island. For example, in January, when asked whether he could assure the world that he would not resort to military coercion to get control of Greenland, Trump replied “No, I can’t assure you” and “I’m not going to commit to that.” Asked this month about using military force to take Greenland, Trump said that “it could happen, something could happen with Greenland” and “I don’t rule it out.”
However, such military action would be manifestly contrary to the criteria of traditional just war theory. And even if the threat is intended merely as a negotiating tactic (as is likely), it would be contrary to the natural law principles governing international relations. These facts should be obvious to all, and would have been until recently. But Trump’s most ardent supporters have an alarming tendency reflexively to defend even the most outrageous things he does, cobbling together feeble rationalizations for words and actions they would condemn had they come from anyone else. It is worthwhile, then, to set out the reasons why Trump’s statements regarding Greenland are indefensible.
Greenland annexation and just war criteria
Again, military action to annex Greenland would clearly be unjust. For it manifestly would not meet the “just cause” criterion of just war theory. One country can justly make war on another only when the other country is guilty of some rights violation grave enough for war to be a proportionate response. The most obvious example would be when a country goes to war in order to repel an aggressor. But neither Denmark nor Greenland is guilty of aggressing against the United States, or of any other violation of U.S. rights. Indeed, they are longtime allies of the U.S.
The fact that the United States would find Greenland’s location and resources useful for purposes of defense is irrelevant. If I would find it useful to take over my neighbor’s property in order to protect my own against robbers, that hardly gives me a right to do so. Indeed, it would make me a robber. Nor will it do to pretend that governments are somehow not bound by the same moral prohibition against robbery that binds individuals. As St. Thomas Aquinas writes:
As regards princes, the public power is entrusted to them that they may be the guardians of justice: hence it is unlawful for them to use violence or coercion, save within the bounds of justice... To take other people's property violently and against justice, in the exercise of public authority, is to act unlawfully and to be guilty of robbery. (Summa Theologiae II-II.66.8)
The injustice of wars of territorial expansion is not a matter of controversy among natural law theorists in the Thomistic tradition, but has long been the standard position. For example, Thomas Higgins’s Man as Man: The Science and Art of Ethics says that “war of aggression is the violent endeavor to deprive another people of independence, territory, or the like, for the sake of increasing one’s own power and prestige… The Natural Law forbids all wars of aggression” (p. 543). Austin Fagothey’s Right and Reason notes that “territorial aggrandizement, glory and renown, envy of a neighbor’s possessions, apprehension of a growing rival, maintenance of the balance of power… these and the like are invalid reasons” for going to war (p. 564). Fagothey also notes that though it can under certain circumstances be licit for a country to acquire new land, this would not be true of “land… recognized as the territory of an existing state,” and that “an existing state may not be deprived of its territory” (p. 547).
The seriousness of these points cannot be overstated. The problem is not just that the forced annexation of Greenland would amount to robbery on a massive scale. It is that, because it would result in deaths, such an unjust military action would be tantamount to murder. It would make the president a war criminal. It would be a massive injustice not only against the people of Greenland, but also against the American military, which Trump would be making an instrument of such criminality.
A negotiating tactic?
Many of Trump’s defenders would say that he isn’t serious about resorting to military force, but merely intends such rhetoric as a negotiating tactic. It is no doubt true that he intends it that way. It is also likely true that, at the end of the day, he would refrain from using such force, if only because the political costs would be too great.
It is significant, though, that in Trump’s most recent remarks, he seemed to draw a distinction between the situation with Greenland and the situation with Canada, which he has repeatedly said also ought to become part of the United States. Asked about the possibility of using military force to acquire Canada, Trump said: “Well, I think we're not going to ever get to that point” and “I don’t see it with Canada, I just don’t see it.” That is hardly an acknowledgement that acquiring Canada in such a way would be wrong, and thus to be ruled out absolutely. It sounds more like a judgment to the effect that attacking Canada would merely be unnecessary or impractical. But his answer in the case of Greenland is different. Again, he said that “it could happen, something could happen with Greenland” and “I don’t rule it out,” even if he also says that that too is unlikely. Overall, his remarks give the impression that he does indeed regard military action against Greenland as at least remotely possible. There is also the fact that the administration has now stepped up intelligence operations vis-à-vis Greenland.
In any event, even if this rhetoric is meant as a negotiating tactic, it is still gravely immoral. There are at least two ways that the refusal to rule out military action could function as a negotiating tactic. Trump might genuinely intend to keep the option open in order to frighten Denmark and Greenland into making a deal, even if he does not currently have any plan actually to resort to such action. Or he might merely be bluffing in order to frighten them into making a deal, but would not ever really carry out such action. Either of these tactics would be gravely wrong, though not in the same way.
John Finnis, Joseph Boyle, and Germain Grisez discuss the difference between genuinely keeping an option open and merely bluffing in their book Nuclear Deterrence, Morality, and Realism, and some of the points they make are relevant to the present topic.
Consider the first possibility, that Trump intends to keep open the option of taking military action against Greenland, but also hopes and believes that he will never have to carry this threat out. As Finnis, Boyle, and Grisez point out, it is a fallacy to suppose that if someone hopes and believes he never has to carry out a threat to do some action, then it follows that he does not really intend that action. The reality is rather that “people who fortunately avoid what they only reluctantly intend, or who might have a change of mind in the future, are people whose minds are now made up” (pp. 104-5). In the present case, if Trump really does want to keep the option open, then he does in the relevant sense have the intention of taking military action against Greenland if he cannot otherwise acquire it. That remains the case even if he also hopes and believes he will be able to acquire it peacefully.
But as we have seen, acquiring Greenland this way would violate just war criteria, and thus amount to murder. As Finnis, Boyle, and Grisez write of keeping open the option of carrying out a murderous act:
It would be doubly conditioned – conditional not only on an adversary’s act in defiance of the threat, but on a choice still to be made to execute it. None the less, that doubly conditioned intention would still be a murderous will. If one intends now to be in a position to commit murder, should one later decide that the situation warrants it, then even now one is willing (however reluctantly) to murder. (p. 111)
So, keeping open the option of taking military action against Greenland, even if intended just as a negotiating tactic, is still tantamount to an intention to murder, and is thus gravely immoral. Consider then the alternative scenario, on which Trump is merely bluffing. On this hypothesis, Trump does not in fact intend even to keep the military option open. He simply wants Denmark and Greenland to think that he is keeping it open. Even if this is what is going on, it is still gravely immoral for at least three reasons, the first two of which are set out by Finnis, Boyle, and Grisez.
First, when a country threatens an immoral military action, it is not only the intentions of its leaders that are morally relevant. Also relevant are the intentions of everyone else in some way connected to the action, from soldiers to ordinary citizens. In the present case, even if Trump himself is bluffing, the bluff can only work if it is not obviously a bluff – that is to say, if a critical mass of people think he really might carry out the threat. And that will lead at least some people (government officials, military personnel, and voters) to decide to support the action if he carries it out. That is to say, they will form the intention of supporting a murderous action. They will not be bluffing, even if Trump is. And as Finnis, Boyle, and Grisez write: “Those who deliberately bring others to will what is evil make themselves guilty, not only of the evil the others will, but also of leading them to become persons of evil will” (p. 119). In the case at hand, such a leader “would be inciting the others to intend to kill the innocent” (p. 120), even if he does not himself really intend to do so.
Second, it is not just what individuals do or will that is relevant. The military actions of a country are social acts, acts carried out by the society as a whole (understood as what is traditionally called a kind of “corporate person” or “moral person”). As Finnis, Boyle, and Grisez note, a team can rightly be said to intend to win a game, even if certain individual members of the team do not intend this but would rather lose. Similarly, even if a president is personally bluffing when he makes a threat, it doesn’t follow that the communal act of the United States as a country, in making the threat, amounts to a bluff. The reason is that “the social act… is defined by its public proposal” rather than by what this or that individual might privately think, “and that proposal is not a proposal to bluff” (pp. 122-23, emphasis added).
Extorted contracts are immoral
The third problem is this. Even if Trump is merely bluffing, the point of the bluff would be to frighten Denmark and Greenland into making an agreement they would not otherwise be willing to make. But this is sheer extortion and gangsterism. Moral common sense and traditional natural law theory alike hold that an agreement cannot be licit or binding if made under such unjust duress. As one standard manual of moral theology puts it:
The defects that vitiate consent by taking away knowledge or choice render contracts either void or voidable. These impediments [include]… fear, which is a disturbance of mind caused by the belief that some danger is impending on oneself or others… [and] violence or coercion, which is like to fear, the latter being moral force and the former physical force. (John McHugh and Charles Callan, Moral Theology, Vol. II, pp. 140-41)
To be sure, the reference here is to contracts between individuals, but natural law theorists standardly hold that, mutatis mutandis, what is true for agreements between individuals is true for treaties between nations. As Fagothey writes, “the conditions for a valid treaty are the same as those for any valid contract,” so that “if an unjust aggressor is victorious, the treaty he imposes is unjust and therefore invalid” (Right and Reason, pp. 549-50). And as another natural law theorist says, “a treaty made under duress, say, made under threat of war… can hardly be regarded as binding, or at least should be regarded as rescindible, if the conditions imposed are manifestly and flagrantly unjust” (Michael Cronin, The Science of Ethics, Vol. II, p. 658).
It is no defense of the president’s comments, then, to say that they are meant as a negotiating tactic rather than seriously evincing an intention to go to war. For a negotiating tactic of this kind is itself also gravely immoral.
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Site: Zero HedgeTesla Tantrums: Consumer Choices In The Age Of Performative EthicsTyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 17:40
Authored by Patrick Keeney via The Epoch Times,
The French have an apt expression for those vexing moments when, having exited a spirited exchange, the perfect rejoinder belatedly arrives. They call it l’esprit de l’escalier—“the wit of the staircase.”
The phrase captures that all-too-human affliction of eloquence delayed. The sharp retort, the subtle riposte—these come not in the heat of dialogue but only after one has turned his back and descended the stairs. “If only I had said ...” It’s an experience with which I’m intimately familiar.
Yet every so often, I rise to the occasion. One such instance still affords a small measure of satisfaction. A visitor from England took it upon himself to scold me for driving a German automobile. He declared he could never own one, not after the destruction wrought by the Luftwaffe on England during the war. The implication was unmistakable: my vehicular choice constituted a moral failing. He drove, he proudly informed me, a Toyota Camry. For once, I replied in real time, “Ah, well, I could never own a Japanese car, not after what the Japanese Army did to our Canadian boys in Hong Kong.”
We changed the subject.
That brief exchange came to mind as I watched the recent paroxysms of hostility directed at Tesla.
Dealerships have been torched, vehicles vandalized, and owners accosted in parking lots by sanctimonious citizens, sneering moral condemnation.
It is not necessary to be a shareholder, Tesla owner, or admirer of Elon Musk to find this troubling. The issue transcends personalities or partisanship.
It is a symptom of a civic pathology, one where ideological grievance takes precedence over shared achievement, and where economic success is no longer a cause for celebration but a litmus test of political allegiance.
If Mr. Musk espouses views one finds disagreeable, there are democratic mechanisms to contest them.
But to vilify an entire enterprise—its workers, consumers, products—based on its founder’s political eccentricities is intellectual laziness masquerading as moral conviction.
It also prompts a deeper question, leading us to the heart of the matter: which corporations, if any, are so morally unblemished that we can consume their products without public disapproval? In an age increasingly saturated with virtue signalling and performative ethics, should we now consider our consumer choices as moral declarations?
If so, the standard quickly becomes untenable.
Consider Henry Ford, whose contributions to American industry were matched only by the virulence of his anti-Semitism.
Ford financed the dissemination of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a notorious forgery, and his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, published material that later delighted Nazi propagandists. By the logic of ideological purity, must we now abandon our Fords and dismantle every endowment bearing his name?
Or ponder Apple. Lauded for its sleek design and innovation, the company has also drawn fire for its reliance on overseas manufacturing, particularly through Foxconn, where reports of dire labour conditions have prompted global concern.
Are we then to discard our iPhones, torch our MacBooks, and boycott the Apple Store as gestures of resistance?
Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Nike, and Amazon have all faced their respective reckonings—environmental degradation, exploitative labour, tax evasion, and anti-competitive conduct.
Even the so-called “green industries,” ostensibly paragons of sustainability, are entangled in troubling realities: the mining of cobalt and lithium (often involving child labour), the environmental toll of solar and wind technologies, and the geopolitical implications of rare earth extraction.
And what of legacy media organizations, whose selective coverage, ideological slant, and occasional falsehoods have sown confusion and deepened division? If we are to demand moral rectitude from our manufacturers, should we not hold our journalists and media organizations to the same standard?
The list is endless. In a fallen world, condemning every corporation and institution for its moral shortcomings takes little imagination. Yet, this is precisely the point: the moral outrage directed at Tesla is not principled but opportunistic. It is less about ethics and more about tribalism.
This is not to say that ethics should not play a role in commerce. Instead, it is to warn against the politicization of consumption, whereby our purchases become emblems of ideological identity. A society that demands moral perfection from its corporations but does so selectively, based not on a coherent principle but on partisan affinity, is not morally serious. It is merely moral theatre. The recent wave of anti-Tesla fervour has less to do with conscience than spectacle.
But moral seriousness requires more than slogans. It demands consistency, humility, and, most critically, an acknowledgment of our shared imperfection. Without these, protests that take us to task for our consumer habits are not acts of ethical resistance, but empty gestures—tribal totems in the theatre of cultural war.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.
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Site: Catholic ConclavePeruvian journalist Pedro Salinas, along with his partner Paola Ugaz, was the one who uncovered and thoroughly investigated the Sodalicio of Christian Life, a movement that, before his death, was suppressed by Pope Francis following the proceedings conducted by the Scicluna-Bertomeu Commission. He has spent years exposing this Catholic sect and has suffered all kinds of persecution, Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: AsiaNews.itBorn in Chicago, he is the first pontiff from North America who also served as bishop of Chiclayo and has Peruvian citizenship. For two terms he was prior general of the Augustinians, a religious order also present in many Asian countries. Pope Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. In his words: 'My vocation, like that of every Christian, is to be a missionary, to proclaim the Gospel wherever one is.'
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Site: Fr. Z's BlogPope Leo XIV greeted the city of Rome and the world with these words at his first appearance as the Successor of Peter from the Central Loggia of St Peter’s Basilica: Pope Leo XIV: Greetings to Rome and to the … Read More →
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Site: Zero HedgeTrump Urges GOP To Raise Taxes On The Wealthy To Fund Economic Agenda: ReportTyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 17:20
President Donald Trump is urging Republican lawmakers to raise taxes on some of the wealthiest Americans as part of his sweeping new economic package - a move that US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says he's 'in favor' of doing.
According to individuals familiar with the discussions, Trump is pushing for the creation of a new 39.6 percent tax bracket for individuals earning at least $2.5 million annually or couples making $5 million. The current top rate stands at 37 percent. If enacted, the measure would restore the top marginal rate to its pre-2017 level, effectively rolling back a key piece of President Trump’s own first-term tax cuts.
According to Bloomberg, Trump made his case in a phone call Wednesday with House Speaker Mike Johnson, where he also reiterated support for ending the carried interest tax break - a longstanding benefit claimed by private equity and venture capital managers, one source said.
Representative Jason Smith, the Missouri Republican who chairs the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, is expected to meet with President Trump on Friday. A congressional aide said Smith plans to assure the president that the forthcoming tax bill 'will deliver on the president’s priorities,' according to the aide.
While the proposal’s full contours remain under negotiation, it is not yet clear whether it would include an expansion of the existing small business income exemption under the individual tax code.
The push to raise the top rate comes as House Republicans face mounting fiscal pressure in drafting what President Trump has labeled the “one big beautiful bill” — a multi-trillion-dollar package aimed at extending the 2017 tax cuts while enacting a range of new promises, including eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.
To finance the plan, GOP leaders have struggled to find consensus on cuts to entitlement programs such as Medicaid, prompting President Trump to float alternatives. Despite concerns that taxing high earners could harm Republicans politically or drive wealth abroad, President Trump has increasingly suggested such a move might be necessary.
Raising taxes goes against long-standing Republican orthodoxy. Trump’s willingness to propose a tax hike for millionaires demonstrates how much he has remade the GOP in his own populist image. Top Republicans have balked at other proposals that would raise levies on affluent households. -Bloomberg
“Anytime the president asks for something, we will consider it,” said Representative Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, a member of the House tax-writing committee. He confirmed that both the new top rate and carried interest repeal are “under discussion” but emphasized that “there is no agreement yet.”
In the Senate, the reaction has been more measured. Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday that he’s “not excited” about the tax hike but acknowledged that “there are a number of people in both the House and the Senate who are.”
“If the president weighs in in favor of it,” Crapo added, “then that’s going to be a big factor that we have to take into consideration.”
As Republicans weigh how to advance President Trump’s second-term tax ambitions, the question of who pays — and how much — is shaping up to be a defining test of the president’s enduring sway over the party’s economic direction.
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Site: Catholic ConclaveNewly elected Pope in a 2023 interview with "Vatican News" about his understanding of the episcopal ministry, abuse prevention, and women in leadership positionsThe new Pope Leo XIV's understanding of church leadership, pastoral care, and responsibility is deeply rooted in the Gospel: This is revealed in an interview published by "Vatican News" immediately after his election on Thursday evening. Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Catholic ConclaveThe Years in Peru of Robert Prevost, the New American Pope, Naturalized PeruvianIn 1985, three years after being ordained an Augustinian priest, Robert Prevost arrived in Chulucanas, north of Lima, from the United States. It was his first mission in Peru. He became bishop of Chiclayo, a Diocese he greeted in Spanish in his inaugural address. In 2015, he obtained Peruvian citizenship.Why it Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Henrymakow.com
Famine is eating away at our bodies. Today I got a little inedible wheat and a small onion. We cooked it and gathered 9 of us to eat it. As you can see!Please send links and comments to hmakow@gmail.com
"We are not only dying under bombs... We are dying now: From hunger, oppression, isolation, and the world's silence."I write this update from the heart of Gaza, For those who still carry a shred of humanity... For those wondering: how are we living? In truth, we are silently dying.The situation has become unbearable. We no longer fear the bombs as much as we fear hunger.Bread has disappeared. Flour is gone. Mothers grind what's left of rice or lentils to bake on wood fires, just so a child feels they've eaten something. Baby formula is unavailable. We now drink salty water. Even tree leaves are no longer an option for those thinking of cooking them.Markets are empty... No vegetables, no oil, no sugar, nothing. We wait in long lines under the sun or rain, hoping for a loaf of bread , if it exists , and often return with nothing.Famine is not an exaggeration... It's the reality we live every hour.Children have become walking skeletons. Women faint from hunger while cooking , if there is anything to cook. The elderly do not complain... because no one is listening anymore.Chaos is rising... Hunger has driven some to steal. Hunger has turned kindness into weakness, and silence into slow death. Chaos prevails because stomachs are empty, and hearts are broken.I am Yamen, Not a journalist, not an activist, not seeking fame. I'm just a Palestinian young man trying to share his pain... and the pain of his family... and the pain of two million people trapped in this hell.All my life, I dreamed of holding my child and playing with them, But now... I fear marriage. I fear bringing a child into this cruel world. And I thank God that all my attempts to get married have failed. Because I don't know what I would say if my child screamed at me: "Feed me!"I don't write these words to seek pity... I write them to scream with whatever voice we have left.We are not only dying under bombs... We are dying now: From hunger, oppression, isolation, and the world's silence.I write these words with a broken heart, I write them while I am hungry, Knowing that the ugliest phase of this war is not the bombs, But this phase: The phase of deliberate siege and starvation of an entire people.To those who care... read this. To those with a conscience... share it. Because we have nothing left but our words... And because silence today is a crime.--
Alex Jones Turns On Trump Admin After Accusing Pam Bondi of 'Covering Up Epstein' Files: 'The White House Already Knows'Human Trafficking Whistleblower Ryan Matta joins Stew Peters for an EXCLUSIVE in-studio interview exposing the true horrors of the United States Government funded global child sex trafficking operation.Trump also is a Pedophile!Satanic Luciferian Pedophiles The Monsters That Walk Among Us Part I: PIZZAGATE!Note: : Trump was on Epstein flight logs at least 7 times.The Depopulation AgendaA nuclear war between India and Pakistan in May 2025 was 'predicted' in 2019!"On 22 April 2025, a deadly attack in Pahalgam, kashmir, claimed 26 lives, mostly Hindu tourists. The Resistance Front initially took responsibility before retracting. India swiftly blamed Pakistan for supporting cross-border terrorism, an accusation Islamabad firmly denied. In response, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, expelled Pakistani diplomats, and sealed its borders. Pakistan retaliated in kind, and both sides reported ceasefire violations along the Line of Control beginning 24 April. By 30 April, India had closed its airspace to Pakistani carriers. With tensions soaring, global powers, including the UK and US, urged both nuclear nations to step back from the brink.India and Pakistan each possess an estimated 170 nuclear warheads within their respective military arsenals. As such, a nuclear exchange between the two nations would involve the detonation of merely three per cent of the world's total nuclear stockpile. However, even such a limited exchange, carried out over a brief period, could result in the immediate deaths of over 100 million people and trigger profound climatic disruption on a global scale."-
Tulsi Gabbard Exposes Fauci's Ukraine Biolabs as Adrenochrome Factories"The truth is, adrenochrome was being produced at Fauci's Wuhan lab before the plandemic hit - yes, the elite's drug of choice, sourced from the tortured and adrenalized blood of the young.Ukraine is the global capital of the child sex trade and investigators warn it is home to a network of adrenochrome factories. This is why the streets of towns and cities across Ukraine are lined with missing children posters.How many of these children were trafficked through Fauci's biolab network?Did you know Adrenochrome is still available for purchase from over 119 global suppliers, including the Wuhan lab funded by Fauci's Eco Health Alliance?"---The War the USA is Losing Isn't to China"But while the United States has spent the last few decades asserting global dominance through military and political interference, China has been building-literally and figuratively.Since 2013, China has invested over $1 trillion in infrastructure projects across Asia, Africa, and Europe through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). At home, it has constructed over 25,000 miles of high-speed rail, more than the rest of the world combined. In contrast, Amtrak's Acela Express - America's closest equivalent - reaches an average speed of just 65 mph. Even the recent $1.2 trillion U.S. infrastructure bill barely scratches the surface of what decades of disinvestment have eroded.China chose infrastructure. America chose interference.
Faux conservative in Masonic handshake with CastreauFreemason Danielle Smith persecutes courageous cancer doctor.William Makis MD - BREAKING NEWS: BREAKING NEWS: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's Office has stolen $142,815 from my STRIPE Account!This is open criminality by the UCP government, in collaboration with corrupt bureaucrats at Alberta Health Services and College of Physicians and Surgeons.They are trying to destroy my family!! I want to thank all my supporters and donors to my @GIVESENDGO Legal fund that has now raised $226,205 to help my family survive this horrific attack!!This is also a vicious attack on all cancer patients who have come to me for help. How evil are these people?Entire governments have collapsed from much smaller scandals than this crime that is being perpetrated in broad daylight. And there is nothing I can do to stop them from committing these crimes. I have all the documents, all the names involved."----
"Autism is caused by vaccines."According to RFK Jr, the CDC carried out a study in 1989 which showed a 1350% elevated risk for autism in the first 30 days among children who got the hepatitis B vaccine, compared to those who got it later, or didn't get it at all."There are hundreds and hundreds of studies. I've written a book called Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak, that has 1400 references and over 400 studies cited that link autism and other related neurological injuries to vaccines. There is no question about it.""If you listen to the propaganda that CDC tells you, yeah, vaccines don't cause autism, because it's propaganda. This is a captive agency that is intertwined and owned by the pharmaceutical industry."-"After a 500-year, mostly secret war against humanity on all imaginable fronts - financial, psychological, economical, biological, ideological, cultural, religious, educational, environmental, and military - one crime syndicate now rules the entire world.[i] Their biggest operation was The Great 20th Century Slaughter of Eurasia, with over 200 million deaths in staged world wars and revolutions, to destroy and control Eurasia's 13 Empires, and to launch the USA like a rocket, as their new and fourth hegemon."All wars are fake, but all war victims are real!A message for the 80th Anniversary of the WW2 Liberation Dayby Mees BaaijenToday I present you chapter B34 from my book The Predators versus The People: -
Site: Zero HedgeVance: US-Iran Talks Are 'On the Right Pathway'Tyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 17:00
Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,
Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that negotiations between the US and Iran are "on the right pathway," although he repeated a false claim that no other country in the world besides Iran has a nuclear enrichment program without a nuclear weapons program, a talking point first used by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Several non-nuclear armed states that are signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty enrich uranium at low levels, including Japan, Germany, and Brazil. "Let me ask this basic question. Which regime in the world has civil nuclear power and enrichment without having a nuclear weapon? And the answer is: no one," the vice president said at the Munich Leader Conference in Washington.
Vance at the Munich Leaders Conference in Washington. White House video screenshot.
Vance said that Iran could maintain a civil nuclear program, but his comments about enrichment suggest he’s saying all uranium enrichment must be eliminated, a condition Tehran has strongly rejected.
"We don’t care if people want nuclear power. We’re fine with that, but you can’t have the kind of enrichment program that allows you to get to a nuclear weapon, and that’s where we draw the line," Vance added.
The 2015 Iran deal, known as the JCPOA, limited Iran’s uranium enrichment at 3.67%, far below the 90% needed for weapons grade, and made its nuclear program subject to the most stringent inspections in the world. Vance criticized the deal, claiming it left open a path to Iranian nuclear weapons.
"We believe that there were some elements of their nuclear program that were preserved under JCPOA that, yes, they weren’t nuclear weapons — Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon — but [it] allowed Iran to sort of stay on this glide path towards a nuclear weapon if they flip the switch and press go," Vance said.
Vance’s comments come after President Trump said Iran’s nuclear program must be totally dismantled, although he said he was "open" to hearing about the possibility of a civil program.
So far, the US and Iran have held three rounds of negotiations. Talks that were supposed to be held this past weekend were postponed, but Iranian media has reported that another round of negotiations will be held this Saturday in Oman.
In his comments on Wednesday, Vance also referred to President Trump’s threat that if a deal isn’t reached, the US will attack Iran. He said there was a possibility of a deal that would "reintegrate Iran into the global economy," which he called "Option A." He added that "Option B" would be "very bad."
Trump has been threatening to bomb Iran if a deal isn’t reached, even though his intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that there’s no evidence Tehran is building a bomb or that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reversed his ban on the development of nuclear weapons.
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Site: Mundabor's blogSo, we have the new Pope. In your charity, please pray for him today, he has a difficult job in front of him. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being Francis, 10 being Pius XII), I hope we are around 5 or 6. It would be a dramatic improvement on Francis, but again, […]
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Site: Catholic ConclaveThis is what Cardinal Prévost, now Pope Leo XIV, said about the role of bishops in defending life in a 2023 Address from the Dicastery for Bishops:"Bishops are called to be shepherds who defend the sanctity of life, ensuring that no one—neither the unborn nor the elderly—is deprived of the Church's love and protection."Now to restore the Pontifical Academy for LifeCatholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Zero HedgeBessent Fumes Over "Missed Opportunity" After Democrats Block Stablecoin BillTyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 16:40
Treasury Secretay Scott Bessent slammed Senate Democrats on Thursday for nuking a stablecoin bill that they began stalling on earlier in the week.
"For stablecoins and other digital assets to thrive globally, the world needs American leadership," Bessent posted on X. "The Senate missed an opportunity to provide that leadership today by failing to advance the GENIUS Act."
The GENIUS Act of 2025 (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins ), died after a Senate vote of 48-49, short of the 60 votes needed to move the measure further along the road to final passage, would create a framework for payment stablecoins
The bipartisan proposal introduced by Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Tim Scott (R-SC), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), would have allowed stablecoins to be insured by depository institutions, or state-qualified issuers that meet specific regulatory standards - which would include maintaining 100% reserves in US dollars or short-term Treasury securities, publicly disclosing reserve compositions on a monthly basis, submitting to audits if their market cap exceeds $50 billion, and various consumer protection provisions such as prohibiting misleading claims about government backing.
According to Bessent, "This bill represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand dollar dominance and U.S. influence in financial innovation. Without it, stablecoins will be subject to a patchwork of state regulations instead of a streamlined federal framework that is more conducive to growth and competitiveness," adding "The world is watching while American lawmakers twiddle their thumbs."
For stablecoins and other digital assets to thrive globally, the world needs American leadership.
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) May 8, 2025
The Senate missed an opportunity to provide that leadership today by failing to advance the GENIUS Act.
This bill represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand dollar…Things Go Sideways
Things went south over the weekend for the bill - after Senate Democrats who previous supported the GENIUS Act withdrew support for the bill after GOP leadership sought to fast-track a vote on the legislation - accusing Republicans of cutting off negotiations early, and claiming that the latest version of the bill lacked strong enough provisions over anti-money laundering, national security, and other issues.
This came after several days of negotiation between the parties with rumors of a deal - however Senate Democrats said on Thursday morning that they had yet to see new bill text with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) signaling a willingness to amend the GOP-backed stablecoin legislation to pass the bill in the coming weeks, after Democratic lawmakers pushed for additional hearings before advancing any legislation.
Democrats also suggested that there were ethical concerns about President Trump's ties to crypto. As Amin Haqshanas reported earlier via CoinTelegraph.com, in a May 5 letter to the Office of Government Ethics, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley said that Trump and his family stand to personally profit from an investment involving UAE state-backed firm MGX, crypto exchange Binance and World Liberty Financial (WLFI).
The senators called for an urgent probe, warning the deal may violate the US Constitution’s Emoluments Clause and federal bribery statutes.
At the center of the controversy is WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin, reportedly chosen for a $2 billion investment MGX plans to make into Binance.
The senators said the transaction amounts to a potential backdoor for foreign influence and self-enrichment, with Trump’s allies allegedly set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars:
“This deal raises the troubling prospect that the Trump and Witkoff families could expand the use of their stablecoin as an avenue to profit from foreign corruption.”Further complicating ethics concerns, Trump hosted a $1.5 million-per-plate dinner on May 5 at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia. The event came just days after hosting a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser for the MAGA super PAC.
According to The Hill, Senate Republicans have expressed frustration with Democrats - arguing that they have worked on the legislation for months and incorporated their feedback, with Thune - who changed his vote from Yea to Nay in a procedural move to preserve the right to bring the measure up again - suggesting that Democrats may be trying to prevent Republicans and President Trump from securing a bipartisan win.
"I just have to say frankly I just don’t get it. I don’t know what more they want," said Thune, adding "Which of course makes you wonder if this is about the bill at all. Or if it’s simply Democrats obstructing because they want to deny Republicans or President Trump a bipartisan win. Now given the fact that Democrats keep moving the goal posts, it’s hard not to suspect that is the case."
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Site: Zero Hedge(None Dare Call It) Treason Of The JudiciaryTyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 16:20
Authored by Frank Miele via RealClearWire.com,
Thursday, April 24, was a day like any other day – the sun came up, the sun went down, and Donald Trump was hit with at least three nationwide injunctions by federal district court judges.
That’s just the way it goes if you are a president who wants to take back America from the entrenched left-wing bureaucracy and restore common sense to government before it is too late.
The danger of the bureaucracy was predicted by Julien Benda in his 1927 book “The Treason of the Clerks,” which warned of the danger of the intellectual class adopting political passions that had previously been the sole domain of the masses. We see this most distinctly today in the federal bureaucracy, which I dare say has the greatest concentration of degree-holders from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia (and the like) of any sector in the nation, other than the incestuous universities themselves.
The treason that Benda described was the loss of independence of thought and dispassionate reason by intellectuals, and the accompanying subservience of intellect to political passions. During Trump’s first term, I wrote a column describing the danger that Benda had foreseen:
Benda wrote at the beginning of the age of mass communication, and yet he already saw that “political passions have attained a universality never before known. … Thanks to the progress of communication and, still more, to the group spirit, it is clear that the holders of the same political hatred now form a compact impassioned mass, every individual of which feels himself in touch with the infinite number of others, whereas a century ago such people were comparatively out of touch with each other and hated in a ‘scattered’ way” …
It seems that we are now living out Benda’s worst nightmare — an age of manipulation of the masses by those who think they know better — whether you call them the “deep state,” the “opposition party,” “the national elite,” “the entrenched bureaucracy,” or just “the establishment.”
And for the past 10 years, they have turned their hatred on Donald Trump. Without rhyme or reason, they fight him on every reform and arm themselves with invented scandal and fake news.
Now, in Trump’s second term, we see that the bureaucracy has a close ally in the judiciary – not one judge, but multitudes that aim to preserve the status quo of liberal governance. If that wasn’t clear before April 24, there was no room for doubt after the day was filled with one court ruling after another telling Trump to “stand back and stand by” rather than to exercise his lawful power as president.
Here’s what tumbled out of the judicial branch that day:
– A federal district court judge in California blocked Trump’s executive order that would have denied federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities that limit or forbid cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
– A Washington, D.C., judge blocked the Trump administration from following through on the president’s executive order requiring that voters in federal elections show proof of citizenship when registering.
– A district judge in New Hampshire blocked efforts to defund public schools that utilize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Not to be outdone, judges in Maryland and Washington, D.C., essentially issued the same order, giving added protection to one of the least popular programs ever shoved down the throat of American citizens.
At the time, those were the latest of more than a dozen nationwide injunctions issued by unelected federal judges who appeared more interested in preserving and protecting left-wing shibboleths than the Constitution.
Also in courts across the nation that week were attempts by judges to reject Trump’s authority as commander in chief to ban transgender participation in the military, to deny Trump the right to strip security clearances from law firms that he says put national security interests second to political partisanship, and stop the administration’s efforts to eliminate federal news services such as Voice of America that engage in anti-American propaganda.
Those are all in addition to the several injunctions issued relative to Trump’s promised reform of the immigration system to expedite deportation of illegal immigrants, especially those who have a criminal history or are members of international gangs.
If that seems normal, it isn’t.
There were only six nationwide injunctions during the eight years of the George W. Bush presidency, and only 12 during the Obama presidency. That increased to 14 under President Biden, which was surpassed by President Trump in the first nine weeks of his second term when 15 such injunctions were issued. Of course, Trump should be accustomed to such judicial abuse. In his first term, there were 64 injunctions against his policies, a staggering 92.2% issued by Democrat-appointed judges. Julien Benda would have clearly recognized the “political passions” that had supplanted the disinterested intellectual rigor we once expected of our judges.
Yet because of our habituated respect for the separation of powers, none dare call it the treason of the judiciary.
That of course is a reference to the 1960s tract “None Dare Call It Treason” by John A. Stormer. Stormer took on the country’s intellectual elites, blaming them for working against the interests of the nation by tolerating or quietly promoting communism. The left-wing elites of the day laughed it off as another right-wing conspiracy theory, but as time has passed it’s become clear that there was indeed a long-range effort to corrupt our institutions with Communism 101 – reducing social acceptance of religion, turning education into indoctrination, and infiltrating government with the intelligentsia that thinks American values are outdated.
Now, at long last, we can see the fruit of the corrupt tree sprouting in our court system, where judges help illegal immigrants escape through the back door of the courtroom, where other judges demand the return of deported gang members or halt the deportation of antisemitic radicals, and where every effort to put America first is ruled unconstitutional.
Fighting back against the overreach of the judiciary must be Donald Trump’s No. 1 priority as he seeks to restore sanity to the federal government. Because the most important principle of constitutional law that is being decided in the next few months is whether the president is truly the chief executive or whether he serves at the pleasure of left-wing judges who put political passion ahead of national interests.
In the ultimate irony, the case must be decided by nine men and women in black robes, the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. The fate of the nation’s future hinges on whether they will seek justice impartially or be swayed by partisan rancor.
Unfortunately, it’s an open question.
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Site: OnePeterFive
We are still recovering from the announcement that revealed the name of the new Pope: the American Robert Francis Prevost, who has taken the name Leo XIV. From where I was positioned, although I could see the square and the balcony, I couldn’t hear the audio from the balcony very clearly. I only caught the papal name and then had to look online to find out which Cardinal had been elected.
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Site: LifeNews
On Friday (May 9) at 1:30 p.m., the Alaska Senate Labor and Commerce Committee will hear invited testimony for a bill (SB 147) that opens up the ability for pharmacists to prescribe and dispense abortion pills. Although there may be some merit to giving pharmacists greater freedom to assist patients without engaging physicians, the bill needs to clarify with certainty that doesn’t include chemical abortion medication.
CLICK HERE to send a quick email to the Committee asking them to amend SB 147 to clarify that pharmacists should not be able to prescribe and dispense abortion pills.
Senator Cathy Giessel, the bill’s sponsor, has argued that pharmacists are already prohibited from prescribing and dispensing abortion medication under current Alaska statute but that is likely incorrect. Chemical abortions are considered a prescribed medication and not a procedure. The current language of the bill is written to amend the term “patient care services” to include the “prescription or administration of a drug or device to a patient…”
See more info from a 2023 Press Release from Attorney General Treg Taylor regarding Alaska law and chemical abortions.
This bill comes on the heels of a critical study using insurance data that reveals more than 1 in 10 women who take the abortion pill experience serious complications including hemorrhaging, infection, and sepsis—a statistic significantly higher than what the FDA has disclosed to the public.
This study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center analyzed data from over 865,000 prescribed mifepristone abortions, and found that the actual complication rate stands at 10.93%, which is 22 times higher than the “less than 0.5%” figure reported in FDA-approved clinical trials.
How many women from Alaska were told mifepristone abortions were safe but ended up with serious complications? In fact, if we apply the 10.93% complication rate to Alaska’s number of women who had chemical abortions (56% of 1,222), we could estimate that 75 women had some sort of complication. That doesn’t reflect a “safe” abortion method. And in every case, an innocent, unborn Alaskan perished.
TAKING ACTION
— CLICK HERE to send a quick email to the Committee asking them to amend SB 147 to clarify that pharmacists should not be able to prescribe and dispense abortion pills.
— Click here to call your local Legislative Information Office to testify on SB 147 during the Friday, May 9, public hearing, which begins at 1:30 p.m.
LifeNews Note: A lifelong Alaskan, Jim Minnery has served as the executive director of Alaska Family Council since its inception in 2006. He is also a board member for LifeWise Academy, Anchorage.
The post Alaska Bill Would Let Pharmacists Hand Out Abortion Pills appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeTrump Hails U.S.-U.K. Trade Deal As "Breakthrough", Says Lower Barriers Will Unlock Transatlantic GrowthTyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 15:45
Summary...
President Trump unveiled a U.S.-U.K. trade framework he called a "breakthrough," designed to lower trade barriers and expand market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, energy, and industrial goods. While the full details remain under negotiation, the deal promises expedited customs clearance for U.S. products entering the U.K. and retains the existing 10% universal tariff rate, with carveouts for steel, aluminum, and automobiles (reduced to zero).
"It's very conclusive and we think everyone's going to be happy," President Trump told reporters, adding, "Many countries want to make a deal, and many countries are very unhappy that we happened to choose this one."
Trump continued: "The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers."
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters via phone that the trade deal is job-protecting and job-creating. U.K. automakers can export 100,000 vehicles to the U.S. at a 10% tariff—down from the previous 25%. Additionally, Rolls-Royce parts will enter tariff-free. A news headline is expected later this afternoon from a major British airline that has committed to a $10 billion Boeing purchase.
"This is going to boost trade between and across our countries," Starmer said.
Both Trump and Starmer pointed out that today is the 80th anniversary of the two countries celebrating the victory of World War II.
After Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters: "We've opened up new market access—ethanol, beef, machinery, all the agricultural products they've agreed to open their markets and that will add $5 billion of opportunity to American exporters."
Here is UBS' first take on the major trade announcement:
President Trump has announced a trade agreement with the U.K., the first to be struck between the U.S. and a foreign country since tariffs were announced. Trump says the deal with the U.K. includes billions of dollars of increased market access for U.S. exports, most notably in agriculture.
The summary of the trade announcement via Bloomberg's Top Live Blog:
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Trump announces trade framework with U.K. that lowers barriers
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U.K. agrees to $10 billion Boeing procurement, Trump says
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U.K. tariffs on British steel and aluminum cut to zero,
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U.K. says China tariffs could be lowered if talks go well: Trump
In markets, the U.S. main equities jumped, with the S&P 500 up as much as 1.4%. The VIX sank to the 21-handle as Trump told reporters, "Better go by stocks now."
More market commentary from Bloomberg:
The S&P 500 is now up 1.4%. This isn't the first time we've seen an advance in equities in the wake of a Trump call to buy. Remember on April 9, the president said "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY," in a social media post. That came hours before he put a 90-day pause on "reciprocal" tariffs for everyone except China. Equities have basically not looked back since that pause – the S&P 500 is up almost 15% since April 8.
Looking ahead, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterpart will begin the first round of trade talks in Switzerland on Saturday.
Expect a lot more trade headlines over the weekend.
Btw, BTC/USD > 100K.
Rewatch Trump's trade deal announcement. The streaming of the event was filmed by Right Side Broadcasting Network.
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Update (1255ET):
Trump announced in the Oval Office that the U.S. and the U.K. have finalized a "great deal" on trade.
Highlights of Trump's announcement (courtesy of Bloomberg):
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Trump says the UK will reduce or eliminate numerous non tariff barriers that discriminated against American products
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"Today's agreement with the UK is the first in a series of agreements on trade," Trump says
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"The final details are being written up. In the coming weeks we'll have it very conclusive," Trump says
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Tade deal will lead to the creation of an aluminum and steel trading zone, and a secure pharmaceutical supply chain, Trump says
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke after Trump:
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Our 10% tariffs on the UK will stay on
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Says the UK will purchase $10 billion in Boeing planes
Additional headlines from Bloomberg:
- From the UK trade deal, the U.S. will raise $6 billion in external revenue from 10% tariffs, $5 billion in new export opportunities
The UK government responds:
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US tariffs on automotives were immediately slashed from 27.5%, with steel and aluminium reduced to zero
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US trade deal gives unprecedented market access for British farmers with protections on food standards maintained
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We will also remove the tariff on ethanol coming into the UK from the us, down to zero
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We have agreed new reciprocal market access on beef, with UK farmers given a tariff free quota for 13,000 metric tonnes
Make it bigger...
.@POTUS: "I think that it's a great deal for both parties... it opens up a tremendous market for us... this is a maxed out deal that we're going to make bigger." pic.twitter.com/6zRAwZrevy
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 8, 2025* * *
Update (0859ET)
Ahead of the Trump administration's big unveiling of a U.S.-U.K. trade deal, new reporting from CNN offers a more precise picture of what to expect. Citing sources familiar with the trade deal, the report suggests the agreement will be narrow in scope, packed with forward-looking commitments, and will not roll back existing 10% universal tariffs.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times adds that the deal's key focus areas will likely include automobiles and steel—two sectors at the center of trade tensions.
US main equity indices slid a bit after the headlines hit, but overnight gains have largely been maintained amid elevated trade optimism from President Trump's series of Truth Social posts.
The official announcement is expected around 1000 A.M. ET.
* * *
Yet another signal that the trade war has hit its peak came overnight, as President Trump took to Truth Social to tease a "big news conference" Thursday morning, where he plans to unveil a "major deal." As U.S. markets began coming online, Trump continued promoting what he called "a very big and exciting day" for U.S.-U.K. trade.
Late Thursday night, the president wrote on Truth Social:
Big News Conference tomorrow morning at 10:00 A.M., The Oval Office, concerning a MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY. THE FIRST OF MANY!!!
Around 0542 ET, he posted again:
This should be a very big and exciting day for the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Press Conference at The Oval Office, 10 A.M. Thank you!
Trump continued in a separate post around 0608 ET:
The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come. Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement. Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!
Then followed by:
"The Golden Age of America is coming!"
A resolution to the US-UK trade spat would be the Trump administration's first step in renegotiating trade worldwide.
Last month, the U.S. imposed a 10% tariff on most imported goods from the UK as part of the baseline tariff it imposed on all nations. On March 12, the administration also imposed a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports.
UK officials would most likely want to see the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum completely removed. If this is part of the upcoming trade deal, the UK could then give concessions on a digital tax it levies on Silicon Valley tech giants.
Trump's series of Truth Social posts provided fresh tailwinds for equity markets overnight in Europe.
Goldman analyst Jasmin Schneider told clients:
Europe trading firmly in the green this morning (SXXP +70bps, SX5E +1.3%) on progress surrounding US-UK trade talks and some solid earnings on the tape. The big focus overnight on trade talks between the U.S. and UK: *TRUMP: TRADE DEAL ANNOUNCEMENT `THE FIRST OF MANY'. Trump is expected to announce a limited trade agreement with the UK later today (UKX +30bps), which may signal the direction of the U.S. president's global trade war. Our EU Tariffs Exposed basket (GSXETRFS +1.2%) and UK Consumption names (GSXEUKCO +1.7%) trading well with the deal likely to focus on reducing tariffs on cars and steel, and may include discussions on tech, AI, and digital trade (BBG).
Across the Atlantic, equity futures are also higher, with hopes that the US-UK trade deal will be the first of many resolutions.
Goldman analyst Rich Privorotsky's take on the developing trade situation:
Will be watching to see what the shape of the UK deal looks like as it could serve as a global template. Into the weekend the market should grow hopeful for a temperature reduction in the China/U.S. escalation. Although I'm a long term bearish on U.S./China trade relations, I'm of the opinion that U.S. corporates have a degree of urgency in reducing the 100%+ tariffs imposed (can't replace supply quickly). Think the landing zone is something back to the 30-50% mark and that will be the travel and arrive event.
Looking ahead, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterpart will discuss the framework for a trade deal on Saturday in Switzerland.
"The negotiations will begin on Saturday," Bessent said in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.
Goldman offered some good news last week: Peak trade war.
Goldman chief economist Jan Hatzius noted earlier this week: "The mood music with China has improved, and we expect the U.S. tariff rate on China to drop from around 160% to around 60% relatively soon. (China is likely to reduce tariffs on the U.S. by a similar amount.)"
Earlier this week, attendees at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills warmed up to Trump's trade war but wanted to see near-term trade deals. KKR co-founder George Roberts told the audience: "Stay calm and carry on."
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Site: Zero HedgeRent Or Buy A Home? Californians Increasingly Have No ChoiceTyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 15:45
Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times,
California is home to some of the widest gaps between mortgage payments and rental costs in the nation, meaning it is increasingly harder to buy a home compared to renting one, according to analysts.
The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) reported on April 21 that the gap between monthly costs of buying a bottom-tier home versus renting a bottom-tier home has reached levels not seen since the mid-2000s housing bubble, with the growth attributed to higher home prices and higher mortgage rates.
“Historically, people would rent, save money, and then buy a house. But, if the rents are high and the prices of houses are even higher, then there’s really no hope,” Joel Kotkin, a fellow in urban studies at Chapman University, told The Epoch Times.
“Buying is becoming more and more difficult, unless you have inherited wealth, or if you have money from overseas.”
A study by Bankrate published on April 23 highlighted the growing affordability challenges in the state’s largest metropolitan areas, where coastal cities lead the country in cost disparities between owning and renting.
Bankrate compared average monthly rent to average monthly mortgage payments across the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, and revealed that cities in California are at the top of the list when it comes to expensive home ownership, especially when compared to rents.
San Francisco has a buy-rent gap of 190.7 percent, making it home to the largest gap nationwide. The typical monthly mortgage payment in San Francisco was around $8,882, up 4.7 percent year-over-year, while the typical rent is $3,055, down 1.7 percent year-over-year.
San Jose comes in a close second on the list, where homeowners fork over mortgage payments that are 185.6 percent higher than rent. The typical mortgage payment is $9,438, up 10.5 percent year-over-year, with rent coming in around $3,305, down 1.3 percent year-over-year.
Los Angeles and San Diego have seen a similar trend. Mortgage payments in Southern California’s largest metro areas are 88.5 percent and 79.9 percent higher than rent, respectively, landing them sixth and ninth compared to other U.S. metros included in the study.
Bankrate’s study attributes high cost gaps between renting and owning a home to skyrocketing home prices because of low housing supply, as well as high mortgage rates, which average nearly 6.90 percent for a 30-year fixed loan nationwide as of April 24.
“ If you’re in the coastal markets, you have to consider this home as a very long-run solution,” Skylar Olsen, Zillow’s chief housing economist, said in a statement. “In California, people famously leave their homes to their children. There are very long tenures in these really expensive markets for that reason.”
California Housing Costs
California homes are around twice as expensive as the typical American home, reported the California LAO, citing Zillow data. A mid-tier home in California costs around $789,000 in 2025, compared to the U.S. average of $361,000.
According to the California Association of Realtors (CAR), the median California home price in March 2025 was $884,350.
In a July 2024 report from Zillow, for 117 cities across California, a typical starter home costs $1 million or more.
Los Angeles’s median home price is just over $1 million, reports Redfin. Meanwhile, San Francisco and San Jose report higher median home prices, at more than $1.3 million and $1.4 million, respectively.
Mid-tier home monthly payments reached nearly $5,900 a month in March 2024, making for an 82 percent growth in prices since January 2020, reported the California LAO. Bottom-tier home payments reached more than $3,500 per month, representing an 87 percent increase since January 2020.
CAR reports that a mere 17 percent of households could afford a median-priced home in early 2024. California home prices are forecasted by CAR to increase 4.6 percent in 2025.
Homeownership rates have fallen in California, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, where the current home ownership rate is 55.9 percent, compared to the national average of 65.2 percent. Homeownership in the state peaked at 60.2 percent in 2006.
Meanwhile, according to the LAO, the monthly rent for a two-bedroom home in California in 2024 was $2,225 compared to the $1,400 national average.
The California Housing Partnership found in 2024 that renters in Los Angeles need to make $48.04 per hour—2.9 times Los Angeles’s minimum wage—in order to afford the average rent of $2,498.
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) reported that renters comprise a 44 percent share of households in California compared to 35 percent in the rest of the country. Save for two other states, more California renters spend over half of their income on rent than any other state.
Lack of Homeownership
Amid the rising prices, 70 percent of Californians believe children today will fare worse than their parents financially, according to a 2024 PPIC statewide survey.
The survey found 29 percent of Californians skipped meals or ate less food in order to save money within the prior year, while 17 percent used CalFresh (food stamp) benefits. Moreover, 20 percent put medical care on hold as a result of financial constraints.
According to Mark Schniepp, director of The Economic Forecast, the main issue is housing.
“But there’s not much we can do about it outside of building more of it,” Schniepp told The Epoch Times in an email. “However we are unlikely to be able to build enough, given current regulations in place and current zoning.”
“The Coastal Act, CEQA, land costs and many local regulations prevent developing housing,” he added.
Kotkin agreed state policies have contributed to a lack of affordable housing, which makes it difficult to build in places that would otherwise be cheaper.
“What essentially is approved is increasingly high density and expensive in the inner city,” Kotkin said.
The bottom line, he said, is that home ownership is an important part of preparing for retirement. If you own a house, then you can stay there once you retire, because you probably have paid it off.
“The house is an asset,” he said.
“[Owners] can borrow against it, they can sell, and then they can have a comfortable retirement.”
However, if an increasing number of people are forced to rent, “people will generally look to the state, or some other institution, to take care of them, because they have nothing of their own,” Kotkin said.
“They’re going to rent for life, which means that when they retire, they’re not going to have any assets. They’re going to be dependent on state transfer payments.”
He sees such dependency as incompatible with democracy.
“Democracy is built on the fact that there’s some degree of independence on the part of a large part of the population,” he said. “If you own a house, you have a certain degree of autonomy that maybe you can think in a different way than if you are dependent on the fact that your landlord may decide to increase the rent 50 percent.”
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Site: southern orders
Pope Leo XIV wearing his Augustinian habit as Cardinal Prevost. As I post this, I haven’t watched it all. It starts with an off the cuff question and answer session he gives at St. Jude Church in Joliet, Illinois. Then it transitions to the Mass he celebrates and it also has a homily. The question and answer session is great. You won’t scratch your head. What he says is clear. He is center progressive in a good way. His homily during the Mass is excellent! He is a good homilist!
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Site: Catholic ConclaveMy blog has carried quite a few stories over the years about the new @Pontifex @bruvvereccles @ProtecttheFaith https://t.co/RCRmsB7MJb pic.twitter.com/UB6XEIp9s9— Catholic Conclave (@cathconclave) May 8, 2025 Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Bonfire of the Vanities - Fr. Martin Fox
If you look at the Gospels,
Jesus spent a lot of time eating with people and feeding them.
Did you ever wonder why that is?
To prepare a meal for another person,
to invite someone to a meal, and to accept that invitation,
are powerful signs of welcome and love.
And turn it around: what would it mean to say,
“NO! I will NOT eat with you!”?
So the reason there’s so much eating in the Gospels?
Because Jesus wants us to know: he likes being with us!
He wants to feed us! He loves us.
So notice what Jesus put at the center of the life of the Church:
The Holy Mass, where he gives us,
not just ordinary food, but his own, precious, Body and Blood!
The best of foods! The best of meals!
Many of us have family or friends
who belong to other Christian traditions, and for them,
Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper as some call it,
Is only a sign, or only a reminder.
They believe that the bread and wine never become anything else.
That’s not what we believe as Catholics, together.
However, some individual Catholics actually think that way.
They say, well, it looks like bread, it tastes like wine,
So that’s all it is, and I don’t believe there’s any miracle.
But then, there were people who met Jesus, and said,
He looks like he’s only a human being,
So I don’t believe he’s also the Lord our God!
People don’t ever say these things to me, but if they did,
here’s what I would want to say back to them:
And, 2nd graders, these questions I’m going to pose are only for reflection,
you don’t have to raise your hands!
But: I would ask people who doubt the Eucharist:
Do you believe that you need to be saved?
Do you need God to rescue you from what sin does?
Do you need God to forgive your sins and change you,
to keep you from hell and bring you to heaven?
Now, some people, if they were very candid, would admit:
No, I don’t need God to do those things.
I’m doing just fine.
And if that’s what you believe, then Jesus makes no sense.
Baptism, confession, all the sacraments make no sense.
Above all, the Mass and the Eucharist just aren’t very important.
So bread, wine, body, blood, whatever? Who cares?
On the other hand, if you look in your heart, and see:
I’m not just fine on my own. I do wrong things,
And if it weren’t for God helping me, I’d end up in a terrible state!
Then it makes all the difference whether Jesus gives you a cracker,
or he gives you his own Body, his own Blood!
His own divinity and soul and self!
If you believe this, if you believe
Jesus really is making this happen at Holy Mass –
and that is our Catholic faith –
then isn’t it obvious why we come Sunday after Sunday?
Like a lot of people, I have a pill I’m supposed to take every day.
It keeps my arteries clear. So, I take my pill.
Jesus doesn’t offer us a pill;
He offers us his very self.
Jesus says, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.”
And he said, “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”
Now, in today’s Gospel, Jesus is drawing Peter especially to a meal;
But it’s not about fish and bread.
It’s about healing Peter’s earlier betrayal.
This episode on the beach is like going to confession:
Peter is forgiven and brought back into union with Jesus;
back to the union that is Holy Communion.
That’s what the Eucharist really is: not merely a ritual,
but that union with Jesus that begins in this life,
and it becomes perfect in eternity.
So why wouldn’t all Catholics want to have this Food, this Life,
as often as they could?
Today, our second graders are making their first communion.
I can see how much you have been looking forward to this day.
So have your parents, and so have I!
But I want to say something I try to say each year.
It isn’t your first communion that matters the most,
but our last communion, and all that come between.
That repetition is critical. Parents, you know this is true!
You remind your kids over and over to say “please” and “thank you.”
Having to keep reminding them drives you crazy,
but if you don’t, the habit will never take root.
So, why be surprised that Jesus knows this too?
And says, keep coming back, Sunday after Sunday?
Sad to say, lots of people make a first communion, but drift away.
So, you keep coming. Stay close to Jesus through prayer
and especially in the sacrament of confession.
And keep coming to Mass and keep receiving Jesus’ Body and Blood.
He so wants to feed us. It’s the most important thing to him.
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Site: southern orders
Please note Pope Leo XIV’s pectoral cross and how similar it is to Pope Leo XIII’s pectoral cross!
If Pope Leo XIV agrees with Pope Leo XIII about Americanism, we are in good shape in the good ole USA. I copy the following from Artificial Intelligence:In his Testem benevolentiae nostrae letter of 1899, Pope Leo XIII condemned a tendency he called "Americanism," which he perceived as a heresy rooted in certain American cultural values and practices, particularly within the Catholic Church. He expressed concerns that these values, such as individualism, liberalism, and pluralism, could undermine the Church's doctrines and authority.Here's a more detailed look at what Pope Leo XIII condemned in the letter:Concerns about Americanism:- Emphasis on personal initiative and independence:Pope Leo XIII cautioned against the idea that individuals should rely solely on their own spiritual intuition and discernment, without the guidance of the Church's teachings and authority.
- Undermining of religious vows and the value of religious orders:He criticized the tendency to disregard or devalue the importance of religious vows and the contributions of contemplative religious orders.
- Minimizing the importance of Catholic doctrine:He expressed concern that some American Catholics were minimizing the importance of Catholic doctrine and tradition, favoring personal interpretation and experience over established teachings.
- Rejection of spiritual direction:He cautioned against the idea that external spiritual direction, such as guidance from priests or spiritual directors, was no longer necessary for spiritual growth.
- Advocating for the free expression of all opinions:While advocating for free expression, Pope Leo XIII cautioned against the idea that all opinions, including those that undermine morality or faith, should be publicly aired, as some speech can be harmful.
In essence, Pope Leo XIII's condemnation of Americanism was a warning against what he perceived as a shift away from traditional Catholic teachings and practices in the United States, towards a more individualistic and liberal approach to faith. While some historians have described it as a "phantom heresy" with few actual supporters, the letter has been a subject of ongoing debate and interpretation. -
Site: Zero HedgeNeed More Proof That Polls Showing Trump Underwater Are Bogus?Tyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 15:05
Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com,
While the corporate media keeps pushing the narrative that Donald Trump’s approval ratings are sinking, we’ve seen this act before.
Remember 2024?
Pollsters swore up and down that Kamala Harris was going to win in a landslide. But anyone who scrutinized the data knew those numbers were bogus.
Now that Trump is back in office, the same game is playing out. The media’s obsession with tearing him down hasn’t faded one bit. So we’re flooded with polls from the same discredited pollsters who got 2024 so wrong — polls that claim Trump is “underwater” while simultaneously showing broad public approval of how he’s handling the issues that matter.
Case in point: even CNN’s Harry Enten was forced to admit on Wednesday that Trump’s law-and-order message is hitting home with voters in a way Joe Biden never could, and the numbers back it up.
“It speaks to one of Trump’s best issues, right? The idea of Alcatraz — you think law and order, you think Donald Trump,” Enten said, driving home a point that’s almost too obvious to require analysis.
On CNN, of all places, Enten presented data showing Trump with a positive net approval rating on crime, something that eluded Biden for his entire presidency.
“Look at that,” Enten said. “At plus two points, far better than Joe Biden who was so far underwater. My goodness, he was setting records at minus 26 points. You rarely ever see it.”
Yes, you read that correctly — while Biden sank to historic lows, Trump is now in positive territory. Not only that, but Trump’s crime approval is stronger now in his second term than it was during his first.
“We compared Donald Trump’s first term to now his second term,” Enten explained.
“We see that Donald Trump’s net approval rating on handling crime is far better now at plus two points… than back in March of 2024 in which he was underwater at minus 13 points.”
That’s a stunning 15-point improvement.
In typical fashion, Trump’s messaging — often mocked by the media as outlandish or theatrical — is connecting with voters. Enten referenced Trump’s remarks about Alcatraz, saying, “Yes, I know it’s late-night fodder for a lot of different folks, but what it actually speaks to is Donald Trump focusing the American people’s attention on an issue in which they actually do like what he’s doing.”
Even more telling? The American public’s concern about crime is decreasing under Trump’s leadership.
“It was 53% last year and look at where we are now. We’re at 47%,” Enten noted.
“It’s the first time in about five years in which the percentage of Americans who worry a great deal about crime has actually dropped under the 50% mark.”
That kind of drop isn’t just statistically significant; it’s politically potent. Enten emphasized that crime is one of just two issues where public concern declined by five points or more from 2024 to 2025, and it happened among both Democrats and Republicans.
So while Trump’s critics continue to spin, exaggerate, or dismiss his rhetoric, voters are seeing something entirely different: results.
“I think Donald Trump is gonna continue on this law and order issue,” Enten concluded, “because the bottom line is, it is working for him.”
I know reopening Alcatraz is "late night fodder" for some, but we're actually now talking about a top issue for Trump: crime.
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) May 6, 2025
Voters like what Trump's doing on crime. His net approval is +2 pts. Biden's was -26 pts!
Trump's own net approval on crime is up 15 pts from 2024! pic.twitter.com/D8aIoWeL2IJust as it was obvious during the campaign that Trump’s support far exceeded what the polls claimed, it’s clear now that his approval ratings are higher than what those same discredited pollsters were pushing last year.
The corporate media's playbook hasn't changed—but we're here to set the record straight.
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Site: LifeNews
A radical pro-abortion group that calls itself Catholic is blasting the election of new Pope Leo XIC and saying it helps the words of pro-abortion churchgoers will somehow persuade him to abandon the longstanding pro-life views of the Catholic Church.
As LifeNews has reported, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born prelate, was elected as the 267th pope on Thursday, becoming the first American to ascend to the papacy.
The announcement came as white smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling that the 133 cardinal electors had reached a two-thirds majority in the conclave to succeed Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures and videos.
Like Pope Francis, during his time in ministry within the Catholic Church, the new Pope Leo XIV condemned abortion and urged compassion and support for both unborn children as well as the elderly and disabled.
“The Church must walk with all people, especially the most vulnerable, ensuring their dignity is upheld from the womb to the end of life, as this is the heart of Christ’s mission,” he said in 2023.
But the abortion advocacy group Catholics for Choice, which has been repeatedly condemned by pro-life Catholic leaders at heretical, is not happy with the new Pope and upset hat the view of pro-abortion leftist Catholics are not represented by Catholic Cardinals.
“Catholics for Choice represents people who are understandably concerned by the church’s regressive views on gender and sexuality. Women, people who have had abortions or used contraception, and LGBTQIA+ people are underrepresented where church decisions are made — including in the conclave,” it said.
“We know Pope Leo disagrees with 9 in 10 U.S. Catholics on abortion,” it claimed, falsely alleging that 90% of Catholics support abortion.
“We are praying that he will be a pope guided by a commitment to peace, justice, and inclusion,” it said, as if killing babies somehow promotes any of those.
The group hopes that it can convince Pope Leo to abandon his Church’s pro-life doctrines.
“Catholics for Choice’s work is more important than ever. That’s why we collected stories from the faithful Pope Leo now serves, who disagree with church teaching. We will be sending them to Pope Leo in the hope he will open his heart to listen. The future of our church depends on greater inclusion and nuance on reproductive health decisions like abortion, contraception, and IVF.”
That’s never going to happen and the pro-abortion group will be disappointed again.
The post Radical Pro-Abortion Group “Catholics for Choice” Blasts New Pope Leo XIV appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Edward FeserLet us pray for our new pope, Leo XIV. His choices to take a traditional name and to appear in traditional papal garb (as Benedict XVI did and Francis did not) are small but encouraging signs of a man who subordinates himself to the papal office and understands the importance of continuity with the past.
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Site: southern orders
Long live Pope Leo XIV! The grace of the office of the Successor of Saint Peter will kick in and already has done so.God love our new pope and God bless His Holiness abundantly!
He is going to be a true pontiff, a bridge builder in the divisive times we live in the Church and all the acrimony there is and has been even on this blog.
He will be clear about the ambiguities we have lived. He will be clear about synodality that will continue but guided by canon law and never denigrating the College of Bishops by clericalizing the laity.
He has shown this already by wearing and impeccability I might add, the papal regalia of French cuffs, cuff links, Mozzetta and papal stole. I predict he will live in the Apostolic Palace and not the Vatican Motel VI.
Another powerful sign is that he read his talk from the loggia with notes! He held his notes in a very conspicuous way too! He will be measured in what he says and how he says it. There won’t be a magisterium of off-the-cuff remarks from this pope.
His papacy will not be based on footnotes.
Pope Leo XIV is a DOCTOR OF THE LAW! He has a doctorate in Canon Law. He does not disdain nor will be contravene the Canon Law of the Church!
Time will tell. But traditional Catholics must become orthodox Traditional Catholic, loving and respecting the pope, especially now with Pope Leo XIV!
LONG LIVE THE POPE! VIVA IL PAPA!
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Site: AsiaNews.itThe new pope is U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69 years old, who had previously served as the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops after his time as a missionary in Peru. 'God loves everyone, help us build bridges of dialogue to be reached by His love. We want to be a synodal Church, one that walks, always seeks peace, charity, and is close, especially to those who suffer.'
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Site: Novus Motus LiturgicusToday, the Sacred College of Cardinals elected His Eminence Robert Cardinal Prevost, hitherto Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, as the 267th Pope and bishop of Rome; His Holiness has taken the name Leo XIV. He is the first American Pope, a native of Chicago, Illinois; he became a member of the Order of St Augustine in 1977, and served as the superior general from 2001-13. He then served as Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Zero HedgeSenator Urges DOJ To Investigate Anonymous Pizza Deliveries To JudgesTyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 14:25
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is urging federal officials to investigate pizza deliveries being made to various judges, describing them as threats.
“These deliveries are threats intended to show that those seeking to intimidate the targeted judge know the judge’s address or their family members’ addresses,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a May 6 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.
The pizzas have been sent to various judges, including Supreme Court justices, and relatives of judges, including the sister of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Some deliveries were made in the name of Daniel Anderl, the son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas. Anderl was murdered at his home in 2020 by a person posing as a deliveryman.
Salas, who is based in New Jersey, said during an April appearance on MSNBC that hundreds of pizzas have been sent to judges across the country, at times late at night.
“What does that say to those judges? It says, ‘I know where you live, I know where your kids live, and do you want to end up like Judge Salas, do you want to end up like her son?’” she said.
She said she was told the deliveries were under investigation.
“These incidents threaten not only judges and their families, but also judicial independence and the rule of law,” Durbin told Bondi and Patel.
“It is imperative that the Justice Department (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigate these anonymous or pseudonymous deliveries and that those responsible be held accountable to the full extent of the law.”
Durbin said that officials should immediately launch an investigation. He said that if they have already started probing the deliveries, he requests an update on what authorities have found.
Durbin also asked that officials provide information on any steps they’ve taken to protect the judges who have received, or whose family members have received, the pizzas.
The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.
Bondi told reporters outside the White House in Washington on Wednesday that she was just learning about the pizza deliveries.
When asked if she had a comment on the situation, she said, “Not yet, but we will.”
Bondi and Patel later held a press event announcing the arrests of more than 200 people who allegedly targeted children for sex offenses. Neither took questions after the announcement.
* * *
New Rancher-Direct Bundle! Only 12 8 In Stock...
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Site: LifeNewsCardinal Prevost, Now Pope Leo XIV, Condemned Abortion: “God’s Mercy Calls Us to Protect Every Life”
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected by the College of Cardinals as the new Pope and head of the Catholic Church.
During his time in ministry within the Catholic Church, the new Pope Leo XIV condemned abortion and urged compassion and support for both unborn children as well as the elderly and disabled.
In an X post with a sample of pro-life comments from the new Pope over the years, Professor Charlie Camosy of the Creighton School of Medicine collected various pro-life statements and comments Cardinal Prevost made over the years.
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
Here is that list:
On the Dignity of All Life (Inferred from Synodality Comments, 2023): “The Church must walk with all people, especially the most vulnerable, ensuring their dignity is upheld from the womb to the end of life, as this is the heart of Christ’s mission.”
On Pastoral Care for the Elderly (Speech to Peruvian Bishops, 2020): “Our elderly are not to be discarded but cherished as bearers of wisdom and faith, deserving the same love and protection as the youngest among us.”
On the Throwaway Culture (Homily, Chiclayo, 2019): “We cannot build a just society if we discard the weakest—whether the child in the womb or the elderly in their frailty—for they are both gifts from God.”
On Mercy and Life (Homily, Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano, 2025): “God’s mercy calls us to protect every life, especially those society overlooks—the child yet to be born and the elderly nearing their journey’s end—because each bears Christ’s face.”
On the Role of Bishops in Defending Life (Dicastery for Bishops Address, 2023): “Bishops are called to be shepherds who defend the sanctity of life, ensuring no one—neither the unborn nor the aging—is left without the Church’s love and protection.”
The post Cardinal Prevost, Now Pope Leo XIV, Condemned Abortion: “God’s Mercy Calls Us to Protect Every Life” appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Rorate CaeliLeo XIV It's too soon. On the one hand... he is a creature of the Church of Chicago and liberal Villanova University, and the very liberal Catholic Theological Union (even more liberal when he was a student there, in the feverish 1970s); he has a long life living in the Liberation Theology-filled rural expanses of Peru; on the other, he is a Doctor of Canon Law, after a period in New Catholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04118576661605931910noreply@blogger.com
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Site: southern orders
To understand Pope Leo XIV, we need to learn more about Pope Leo XIII.As for clairvoyance, I posted below on Our Lady of Pompeii which our new pope refered to in his first talk to the Church. Pope Leo XIII also penned a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel which I wrote about St. Michael feast day today in the older Missal.
The following is copied from the Pope Leo XIII Institute:
The Legacy of Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII reigned from February 20, 1878 to July 20, 1903. To our Institute members, he is most affectionately admired for a great many reasons, perhaps most especially for his authorship of the Prayer to St. Michael, his eleven encyclicals on the Rosary, and those on Catholic social teaching.
Pope Leo XIII promoted Marian devotion — especially through recitation of the Rosary — as a powerful antidote to the devil’s attacks on the Church, the family, and society. He was well aware of the dangers posed by trends in modern thought. He foresaw many social evils that would come to pass as a result of erroneous philosophies.
He never tired of encouraging political and moral leaders to live and rule in a Christian way. As an intellectual and spiritual leader, he was able to see deeply into the reality of the world, always acutely aware of the invisible yet very real battle being waged against the soul of each person and against communities everywhere.
Pope Leo XIII’s wisdom, foresight, and his tireless work for God’s Kingdom on social, pastoral, and spiritual levels makes him an excellent namesake as our Institute strives to utilize at once sound science and accurate theology, steeped in a life of contemplative prayer, to form exorcists, priests, and deacons equipped to love and serve the most broken members of society through the healing power of Christ.
“The race of man, after its miserable fall from God, the Creator and the Giver of heavenly gifts, ‘through the envy of the devil,’ separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ; and those who desire from their heart to be united with it, so as to gain salvation, must of necessity serve God and His only begotten Son with their whole mind and with an entire will. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God…
Let us take our helper and intercessor the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so that she, who from the moment of her conception overcame Satan may show her power over these evil sects, in which is revived the contumacious spirit of the demon, together with his unsubdued perfidy and deceit. Let us beseech Michael, the prince of the heavenly angels, who drove out the infernal foe…”
— Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus, Encyclical on Freemasonry, promulgated on April 20, 1884Pope Leo XIII
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Site: non veni pacem
We need to pray. Go to Mass. By all means, go to Confession.
As I posted on Monday, you can read about the orchestrated campaign for this dude here:
https://catholicvote.org/legacy-catholic-media-promote-cardinal-same-time-coincidence-or-campaign/
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Site: La Salette Journey
See here
What's in a name?
The significance of Pope Leo XII provides us with a clue. See here.
On the Feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael:
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. .
O glorious prince St. Michael,
chief and commander of the heavenly hosts,
guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits,
servant in the house of the Divine King
and our admirable conductor,
you who shine with excellence
and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil,
who turn to you with confidence
and enable us by your gracious protection
to serve God more and more faithfully every day.
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Site: Novus Ordo Watch
HABENT PAPAM – They have a Pope (or so they think)…
‘Pope Leo XIV’
American Cardinal
Robert Francis Prevost
is New Head of Vatican II Church
Born in Chicago, Illinois, on Sep. 14, 1955, his most recent role was prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
Prevost’s ecclesiastical milestones can be found here.
Leo XIV is considered a ‘moderate reformer’ and aligns very much with the Bergoglian agenda. He was a close confidant of ‘Pope’ Francis and has been responsible for the selection of ‘Catholic bishops’ throughout the world.
MORE INFORMATION TO BE ADDED SHORTLY!… READ MORE
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Site: Novus Ordo Wire – Novus Ordo Watch
HABENT PAPAM – They have a Pope (or so they think)…
‘Pope Leo XIV’
American Cardinal
Robert Francis Prevost
is New Head of Vatican II ChurchBorn in Chicago, Illinois, on Sep. 14, 1955, his most recent role was prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
Prevost’s ecclesiastical milestones can be found here.
Leo XIV is considered a ‘moderate reformer’ and aligns very much with the Bergoglian agenda. He was a close confidant of ‘Pope’ Francis and has been responsible for the selection of ‘Catholic bishops’ throughout the world.
MORE INFORMATION TO BE ADDED SHORTLY!… READ MORE
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Site: LifeNews
In a historic moment for the Catholic Church, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born prelate, was elected as the 267th pope on Thursday, becoming the first American to ascend to the papacy.
The announcement came as white smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling that the 133 cardinal electors had reached a two-thirds majority in the conclave to succeed Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
Prevost, 69, took the name Pope Leo XIV, honoring his roots in the Order of Saint Augustine, where he has served as a priest, missionary, and leader.
His election marks a significant shift, breaking centuries of European dominance in the papacy and reflecting the global reach of the Catholic Church, which counts nearly 40% of its 1.4 billion members in Latin America, a region Prevost knows well from his decades of service in Peru.
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Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost’s journey to the Vatican began in the Midwest, where he was shaped by his family’s faith and the vibrant parish life of his youth. After earning a mathematics degree from Villanova University, he joined the Augustinians, later studying theology and canon law in Chicago and Rome. His missionary work in Peru, where he served as a parish pastor, seminary teacher, and bishop of Chiclayo, earned him a reputation as a pastor who “walks with the people,” a quality he emphasized in a 2023 interview with Vatican News: “We are often worried about teaching doctrine, but we risk forgetting that our first duty is to communicate the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus.”
As prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops since 2023, Prevost played a pivotal role in selecting bishops worldwide, aligning with Pope Francis’ vision of pastoral leadership over rigid doctrinal enforcement. His fluency in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Latin, along with his experience in Latin America, positioned him as a bridge between the Church’s diverse regions.
Prevost’s election has sparked joy among many American Catholics, who see it as a moment of pride and a call to deeper faith.
On issues like abortion, Prevost has not made explicit public statements, but his alignment with Pope Francis and traditional Catholic teaching suggests a firm stance against it, balanced by a pastoral approach that emphasizes mercy and forgiveness for women who have had abortions.
Prevost is who Pope Francis met with right before outspokenly pro-life Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland was removed from his duties. Strickland had called Joe Biden a “fake Catholic.”
The post Cardinal Robert Prevost Becomes First American Pope to Head Catholic Church appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: PeakProsperityHas the Fed begun a program of stealth QE? Also, we discuss peak oil, CBDC opposition, economic inequality, and the need for a nuclear energy renaissance. Tune in!
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Site: Saint Louis Catholic
Pray for the Pope and the Church.
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Site: Rorate CaeliDominus conservet eum,et vivificet eum,et beatum faciat eum in terra,et non tradat eumin animam inimicorum eius.Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, American, born in the Archdiocese of Chicago, on September 14, 1955, was elected on the 4th vote of the Conclave. His pontifical name is Leo XIV.Prevost is a former superior of the Order of Saint Augustine, and bishop in Peru (where he had lived much of New Catholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04118576661605931910noreply@blogger.com
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Site: AsiaNews.itAs clashes between India and Pakistan intensify after the attack in Pahalgam on 22 April, military operations are increasingly seen as testing the most advanced weapons on the market. Today India struck Pakistani air defences, risking further escalation. Pakistan has promised a response 'at a time and place of its own choosing' with the risk of causing the worse confrontation between the two countries since 1971.
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Site: Zero HedgeThe Two Catalysts Driving The Next Great Monetary ResetTyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 13:05
Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,
All of this points to something big on the horizon, driven by two key catalysts.
We’re entering a pivotal moment—one where the economic, monetary, and geopolitical landscape is shifting.
These changes aren’t random or isolated; they are the result of deep structural pressures that have been building for decades.
While the signs have been there for some time, recent developments make it clear that the system can no longer hold as-is. A reset is not only possible—it’s likely. And two key forces are pushing us there faster than most realize.
The first is the long-ignored, but now unavoidable, debt crisis.
The second is the Trump administration’s strong belief that an overvalued dollar has hollowed out the US economy, weakening exports, offshoring jobs, and undermining American industry.
Let’s break down these two powerful catalysts driving the next great monetary reset—starting with the one that has silently eroded America’s financial foundation for decades: the debt.
Catalyst #1: The Debt Crisis Has Arrived
The financial decline of the US government has been unfolding for decades, creating a false sense of security. Many people have grown complacent—they’ve heard warnings about the debt crisis for years, yet nothing seemed to happen.
But last year, a crucial tipping point was reached: For the first time, interest payments on the federal debt surpassed the defense budget. It’s on track to overtake Social Security, which would make it the largest single item in the federal budget.
While the US government has an unmatched ability to extend the illusion of solvency, history is clear—even the most powerful empires cannot escape financial collapse once they can no longer service their debt.
A moment of reckoning is coming—and soon.
Historian Niall Ferguson put it bluntly:
“Any great power that spends more on debt service (interest payments on the national debt) than on defense will not stay great for very long.
True of Habsburg Spain, true of ancien régime France, true of the Ottoman Empire, true of the British Empire, this law is about to be put to the test by the US beginning this very year.”
In other words, debt kills empires.
The hard truth?
Cutting spending is meaningless unless it includes chainsaw-like reductions to entitlements, national defense, and the welfare state—while also reducing the national debt to lower interest costs.
In other words, the US would need a leader willing and able to:
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Return to a limited constitutional government
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Shut down the 750 military bases abroad
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End entitlements
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Dismantle the welfare state
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Repay a large portion of the national debt
However, that’s a completely unrealistic fantasy. It would be foolish to bet on that happening.
Here’s the bottom line.
The US government cannot and will not even slow the rate of spending growth, let alone reverse it. This is a well-established trend that has been building for decades. At this point, it’s impossible to change course.
It’s like trying to stop an avalanche after it has already gained unstoppable momentum.
No matter what happens, the federal debt will not level off—it will continue expanding exponentially until it reaches a full-blown crisis. That crisis is closer than most realize.
That’s why there is an excellent chance this debt disaster will explode under Trump’s watch—though it is not entirely his fault.
Simply put, it’s game over. The federal debt charade is at the end of the line.
When governments are trapped, they reset the system.
That’s what happened in 1933 with gold confiscation, in 1971 when Nixon ended the gold standard, and at several other pivotal moments in American history. Now, history is repeating itself—and another major reset appears to be on the horizon.
The Trump administration has no other option—and all signs suggest they are preparing for what comes next.
Catalyst #2: A Strong Dollar Creates Economic Instability
The Trump administration sees the dollar as dangerously overvalued, blaming it for America’s worsening economic imbalances.
A strong dollar makes US exports uncompetitive, while making foreign imports relatively cheap, accelerating the offshoring of jobs and the hollowing out of American industry and manufacturing.
After the worst inflation surge in over 50 years, the idea that the dollar is “too strong” might sound absurd.
But the reality is that the dollar has soared against other fiat currencies like the euro, yen, yuan, pound, and the rest of the world’s government-issued confetti.
The Real Broad Dollar Index tracks the dollar’s value against a trade-weighted basket of currencies from 26 major US trading partners. As the chart below illustrates, the dollar has been on an upward trajectory for over a decade and now sits near an all-time high.
President Trump has consistently stressed the importance of leveling the playing field for American industry in global trade. However, a strong dollar directly undermines his goal of revitalizing US manufacturing. It makes American exports less competitive internationally and incentivizes companies to shift production overseas.
In short, the Trump administration believes the US must weaken the dollar against foreign currencies to boost American exports and bring manufacturing back to the US.
So, what can they do?
One historical precedent is the Plaza Accord of 1985.
In the early 1980s, after former Fed Chair Paul Volcker raised interest rates above 17%, the US dollar skyrocketed against foreign currencies. While this helped control inflation, it eventually hurt US exports and domestic industry.
Recognizing the problem, the Reagan administration took action. The US government convened a meeting with finance ministers from Japan, the UK, France, and Germany—its largest trading partners—at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. They agreed to a coordinated devaluation of the US dollar and committed to keeping exchange rates within a controlled range to prevent further volatility.
While a multilateral approach has worked in the past, it’s uncertain whether US trading partners will agree to the scale of devaluation Trump envisions. Trump doesn’t just want minor adjustments—he wants a permanent shift in favor of US industry.
A unilateral response may become the only option if other countries refuse to cooperate.
In my view, the notion that weakening the US dollar is a cure-all for America’s economic problems is misguided. It’s the equivalent of believing that prosperity comes from eroding the savings of everyday Americans while driving up their cost of living. It’s not just flawed—it’s ridiculous.
If the Trump administration truly wants to restore competitiveness, it must slash regulations and other burdens that make American products less attractive than their foreign counterparts.
If weakening a currency truly made a country more competitive, then Argentina and Zimbabwe would be global economic powerhouses.
Currency devaluation props up a handful of inefficient, politically connected industries and enables a reckless government to keep spending, but it does so by impoverishing everyone else in the process.
No country has ever achieved and sustained wealth solely through a weak currency. Yet, this is precisely what those in power seem to believe. And they appear to be moving toward a reset that fundamentally realigns the US economy and trade system.
The Reset Is Coming—Here’s What You Need to Know Before It Hits
Everything you’ve just read points to one conclusion: a major monetary reset is coming—and it’s accelerating fast.
What will it look like? Who wins? Who loses? And most importantly—how can you protect yourself and come out ahead?
I break it all down in an exclusive new report:
Inside, you’ll discover:
- Why the debt crisis and dollar devaluation are converging
- How gold could be used to reset the system
- What steps you can take right now to prepare and profit
Click here to download the PDF report now.
Because by the time the reset becomes obvious… it’ll be too late to react.
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Site: Mises InstituteIn the world of private enterprise, business owners pay attention to costs already incurred that cannot be recovered, also known as “sunk costs.” Government officials, however, see sunk costs as an incentive to promote public projects where costs clearly outweigh benefits.
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Site: Zero HedgeReports Of Huge India-Pakistan Jet Dogfight; Blackout Across Jammu & KashmirTyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 12:52
Update(1252ET): While there's been no official confirmation, a Pakistani official has described major aerial engagements above Jamu and Kashmir Thursday. Newsweek writes based on a CNN report:
Some 125 Indian and Pakistani fighter jets battled for over an hour in one of the biggest dogfights in recent history, according to a Pakistani security source quoted by CNN.
If the numbers of aircraft were confirmed, it would make it one of the largest air battles since World War Two.
According to more of the unverified claims:
The "dog fight" between Pakistani and Indian fighter jets, which Pakistani officials say downed five Indian planes, was one of the "largest and longest in recent aviation history," a senior Pakistani security source told CNN. The Pakistani claim has not been corroborated and could not be immediately verified by Newsweek.
What is certain is that the last 24 hours have seen intense artillery fire exchanges, as well as drone strikes and intercepts, amid a ratcheting situation between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Former Indian official implies Jammu Kashmir is under attack. https://t.co/DAbUrF4HF0
— FJ (@Natsecjeff) May 8, 2025Purported video footage of Kashmir amid blackout and anti-air fire overhead...
#Confirmed
— Ashutosh Singh (@reach_ashutosh) May 8, 2025
Pakistan launched multiple rockets targeting the Stavari area and Jammu Airport. A blackout has been reported across Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Army was fully prepared and had anticipated such a move. It appears Pakistan is recklessly pushing itself toward… pic.twitter.com/StLu7kVMmfChina, the US and Russia are watching closely, also given the weapons being pitted against each other:
A top Chinese-made Pakistani fighter shot down at least two Indian military aircraft on Wednesday, two US officials have told the Reuters news agency, marking a major milestone for Beijing’s advanced fighter jet.
One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was high confidence that Pakistan had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets, bringing down at least two.
* * *
In the latest developments along the war-ready Indian-Pakistan border, the Pakistani military says it has downed 25 Indian drones over its territory, while India in in turn is announcing it thwarted a Pakistani drone and missile attack on its military.
The official Pakistani death toll after the Wednesday missile 'retaliatory' attacks on Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir yesterday is at least 31 killed and dozens more wounded. Heavy artillery fire across the Line of Control (LOC) has remained steady, but the kind of feared wider and out of control all-out war has yet to be sparked. Islamabad is now claiming to have killed scores of Indian troops.
Shell hits the main town of Poonch district in Indian-administered Kashmir, AFP
On the other side, the last 48 hours of hostilities has resulted in at least 13 people killed in Indian-administered Kashmir, with others wounded due to Pakistani fire.
India's 'Operation Sindor' to avenge the 26 tourists killed last month's terror attack has been called an 'act of war' by Pakistani leaders. Islamabad has denied any involvement in supporting or harboring the gunmen, amid repeat Indian accusations.
As for the newest major Indian drone attack, it mainly targeted the second-largest city of Lahore, and India's government hailed that the operation successfully took out air defense radars at several locations. However, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif rejected this, saying there was no damage, amid an ongoing fog of war where it's hard for international observers to confirm much.
But as for a much bigger claim which has yet to be confirmed or substantiated, Al Jazeera reports that "Attaullah Tarar, the Pakistani information minister, has said the country’s armed forces have killed 40 to 50 Indian soldiers in the exchanges along the Line of Control dividing Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir." The assertions were made before legislators in the National Assembly.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri's latest words suggest New Delhi is still seeking to prevent escalation, claiming that all our air strikes were against "carefully selected terror targets" and that Indian drones and shelling have only hit sites connected to "incidents of cross-border terror in India and terrorist infrastructure."
#BREAKING
— Nabila Jamal (@nabilajamal_) May 8, 2025
Drones shower in #Pakistan
India strikes back after Pak provokes at LoC
Pakistan targeted Indian military posts on May 7–8. 16 Indian civilians including 5 children killed in Pak shelling
India hit back, taking out Pak air defence radars near Lahore
India warns:… pic.twitter.com/MZpzbRJN0OAnd provocatively, he alleged that Pakistan has been "using religious sites as a cover to train terrorists" - which strongly suggests India's assaults on Pakistan-administered Kashmir will continue, given the presence of armed Islamist factions. Much of this was directed at rejecting Pakistan's claim that Indian air strikes have damaged the vital Neelam-Jhelum dam.
But the question of disinformation, and the motive for India's 'counterterror' strikes, have been called "domestic theater" by one regional analyst:
Yet as tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors escalate hour by hour, with Pakistan accusing India of launching a wave of drones into its territory on Thursday, military and geopolitical analysts question whether India’s approach serves as a deterrent against armed groups eager to target it. They argue that New Delhi’s actions are more symbolic and aimed at addressing its domestic audience rather than tactical advancement in the so-called “fight against terror”.
"This is all a domestic theatre," said Ajai Sahni, executive director of South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), a platform that tracks and analyses armed attacks in South Asia. "The Indian strikes [in Pakistan] have no deterrent value."
A steady spread of the border conflict...
Source: @detresfa_
Markets in India and Pakistan have again closed in the red, with India's benchmark stock market indices - the Sensex and Nifty - having fallen around half a percent in trade.
Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange was halted Thursday, with the benchmark KSE100 index losing more than 6% in trade. Amid the deep uncertainty the Indian rupee has slipped more than a percent against the US dollar.
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Site: Zero HedgeGOP Fiscal Hawks Dig In, Insist Megabill 'Must Not Add To The Deficit' To Avoid $50 Trillion Debt By 2035Tyler Durden Thu, 05/08/2025 - 12:45
A bloc of 32 House Republicans is pressuring their party’s leadership to uphold strict fiscal constraints as Congress moves to draft the sweeping legislative package underpinning former President Donald J. Trump’s domestic agenda.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the lawmakers, led by Representative Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, vice chair of the House Budget Committee, demanded that any reconciliation bill adhere to the House’s budget resolution and “must not add to the deficit.”
The group includes several members of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and a number of conservatives aligned with the House Freedom Caucus, including its chairman, Representative Andy Harris of Maryland.
Their insistence arrives at a critical moment, as Republicans rush to finalize the multi-committee legislative package set to cement Trump’s priorities on taxes, border security, and energy. The Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means Committees are all expected to begin marking up portions of the package next week.
At the heart of the fiscal standoff is a demand that any proposed tax cuts - set at a maximum of $4.5 trillion under the budget resolution - be reduced if Republicans fail to meet a $2 trillion spending cut benchmark. Smucker’s amendment to the resolution requires that any shortfall in spending cuts be matched with proportional reductions in tax relief. A $1 trillion gap, for example, would mean no more than $3.5 trillion in tax cuts.
That formula has inflamed tensions within the GOP’s ranks, particularly among members of the Ways and Means Committee. Its chair, Representative Jason Smith of Missouri, has said as much as $5.5 trillion in tax cuts is needed to realize Trump’s vision, including making the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent. Yet some of the most vocal calls to scale back that figure are now coming from within his own committee.
"Under the House’s framework, the reconciliation bill must not add to the deficit," wrote the lawmakers, Politico reports. The letter continues;
"A $2 trillion reduction in spending may sound substantial. However, it equals only 2.3 percent of projected federal outlays over the next decade and only reduces the rate of growth in spending. Even with those savings, annual spending is expected to grow from $7 trillion to $10 trillion over the next 10 years, and debt will exceed $50 trillion by 2035."
The fiscal constraints are also complicating other politically sensitive elements of the package. Republicans on the Agriculture Committee are sparring over how far to cut food assistance programs, while members of Energy and Commerce are debating the scope of Medicaid reductions. Hard-right conservatives are urging aggressive cuts to achieve budgetary goals, while moderates—particularly from swing districts—warn that such moves could endanger benefits for millions.
Blue-state Republicans, many of whom also serve on Ways and Means, remain embroiled in a separate but related battle over the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, pushing for income caps or broader eligibility thresholds.
That said, according to Punchbowl News, the SALT Republicans 'have more leverage than you think.'
Let’s put this plainly: A handful of SALT members are willing to tank the reconciliation package and President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda if they don’t get a SALT deal they like.
“It is a hill I am willing to stake my entire congressional career on,” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) said. LaLota said he’d be “pressing the red no button” if the SALT cap isn’t high enough.
Here’s Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who represents a swing district and is eyeing a gubernatorial run:
Remember: This entire reconciliation package is a snake pit for moderate House Republicans. Some have privately argued to us that they’d be better off voting against it because of the cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and social programs. But SALT is also an acute and immediate problem that Republicans are nowhere close to solving.
Meanwhile, Smucker’s coalition has injected another hurdle into an already fraught process. “The House budget resolution assumes that enacting President Trump’s agenda, including extending the 2017 tax cuts, will generate $2.5 trillion in additional revenue through economic growth,” the group wrote. “This means that all additional tax cuts or increases in spending above this level must be offset.”
With competing priorities and a tight self-imposed timeline, Republican leaders face growing pressure to reconcile ideological divides within their conference. Whether they can thread the fiscal needle without splintering the party remains to be seen.
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Site: AsiaNews.itMeeting with Bill Gates, President Prabowo Subianto expressed gratitude for the aid, which the foundation began to give in 2009. The Indonesia leader also pledged to award the US philanthropist Indonesia's highest national honour. In addition to health, the money has been used in agriculture and technology. Indonesia's PT Bio Farma produces up to two billion doses of vaccine every year, distributed in over 40 countries benefitting more than 900 million people.
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Site: southern orders
PRIOR TO THE WHITE SMOKE, AND I MEAN JUST PRIOR, I TOOK THE PHOTO FROM MY TV SET OF THE BABY SEAGULL BY THE PAPAL SMOKE STACK! YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP! WE HAVE A BABY POPE NOW! PRAISE GOD AND LONG LIVE THE POPE!
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Site: Novus Ordo Watch
Conclave ends as Vatican II Sect chooses new ‘Pope’…
WHITE SMOKE!
Waiting for Announcement of ‘New Pope’…
VATICAN NEWS LIVESTREAM
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Site: Novus Ordo Wire – Novus Ordo Watch
Conclave ends as Vatican II Sect chooses new ‘Pope’…
WHITE SMOKE!
Waiting for Announcement of ‘New Pope’…VATICAN NEWS LIVESTREAM
Vance at the Munich Leaders Conference in Washington. White House video screenshot.
Shell hits the main town of Poonch district in Indian-administered Kashmir, AFP
Source: @detresfa_
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