00x Final Filter

Blurb:

President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela and Iran are the first time that any president has made any progress against China’s decades old effort to peacefully subvert the U.S.

It is no secret that China has two goals: to seize control of Taiwan and to become the lone global superpower by 2049, the centennial of the communist control over the country. China is our primary geopolitical rival, if not our mortal enemy.

Over the past few decades, China has successfully subverted the U.S. through globalization. The U.S. now depends on China for antibiotics, energy, technology hardware and vital rare earth minerals and their processing. China could shut off exports of these and other goods, and our economy, society and security would be crippled.

Yes, China would hurt itself by doing these things, but China is an iron-fisted totalitarian state where any social unrest would be much more easily (read brutally) addressed than in the U.S.

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They reportedly have had bad experiences acting as Washington’s proxy in past conflicts

Iraq’s Kurds are against joining the US attacks on Iran, and have voiced concerns about being left facing Iranian retaliation with no ground or air defense support, Axios reported on Saturday.

The CIA began working to arm Kurdish forces hostile to the Islamic Republic after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran last Saturday, according to CNN. While US President Donald Trump initially voiced support for Kurds getting involved in the conflict, he backpedaled on the idea on Saturday.

“The Kurds must not be the tip of the spear in this conflict,” Axios wrote, citing a senior official from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Iraq.

Blurb:

… One in three people now believe the world will end within their lifetime, according to new research. The study shows apocalyptic beliefs are no longer confined to the fringes of society – and they’re shaping how people respond to global threats, say scientists.

Study lead author said Dr Matthew Billet said: “Belief in the end of the world is surprisingly common.” He added: “It’s significantly influencing how people interpret and respond to the most pressing threats facing humanity.”

The research team surveyed more than 3,400 people in the United States and Canada. In the American sample of 1,409 respondents, nearly a third said they believe the world will end within their lifetime.

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Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani has described Iran’s strikes on Gulf countries as a “dangerous miscalculation” – warning the escalation risks destabilising the region and sending shockwaves through the global economy.

Speaking to the media for the first time since Qatar has come under repeated missile and drone attacks, the prime minister told Sky News that the country had entered what he called “a very difficult period” – but praised the professionalism of its defence and security forces.

For a man who has mediated some of the world’s most complex crises, what stood out to me was how angry he was about Iran’s actions.

“It is a big sense of betrayal,” he told me. “Just an hour after the start of the war, Qatar and other Gulf countries have been attacked. We made clear that we were not going to take part in any wars against our neighbours.”

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… Keir Starmer is expected to promise to protect the British public from the economic impact of the war after oil prices surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022.

“No matter the headwinds, supporting working people and their families with the cost of living is always top of my mind,” the prime minister said ahead of a visit on Monday to a community centre in London.

Starmer added:

People are also rightly worrying what this means for life at home – their bills, their jobs, their communities.

I want to address those concerns head on. I will always be guided by what is best for the British public. And no matter the headwinds, supporting working people and their families with the cost of living is always top of my mind.

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Vladimir Putin has congratulated the new Supreme Leader of Iran with a statement that risks infuriating Donald Trump. The Russian leader sent a congratulatory message to Iran’s Supreme Leader-elect Mojtaba Khamenei, reaffirming his continued support and solidarity with Tehran.

A statement posted on the Kremlin’s website on Monday read: “Please accept my sincere congratulations on your election as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. At a time when Iran is confronting armed aggression, your tenure in this high position will undoubtedly require great courage and dedication. I am confident that you will honorably continue your father’s work and unite the Iranian people in the face of severe trials.” The statement, signed off by Putin himself, also reiterated Russia‘s “unwavering support” for Tehran and expressed solidarity with its “Iranian friends”. The leader confirmed that Russia has been and will remain a “reliable partner of the Islamic Republic”.

He has strong ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which pressured the Assembly of Experts to select him, Iran International reported.

Despite the connection to the military branch, he is not a high-ranking cleric and has never held an official role in the regime. He did, however, serve in the Iranian armed forces during the war with Israel.

Blurb:

There is little doubt in Washington that AI is a powerful technology that will help determine which country rules the 21st century. Policymakers from the Hill to the White House have made U.S. AI leadership a priority and invested significant resources towards staying ahead of competitors. Yet the United States is at perhaps greater risk than ever before of losing the broader global technology competition.

Despite growing investment in AI, U.S. policymakers have failed to prepare for its convergence with biotechnology, a fusion that will define economic and national power in the coming decades. While competitors are building coordinated AI-bio ecosystems, the U.S. biodata (biological data) environment remains fragmented, underfunded, and insecure. Without a federally led effort to build AI-ready biodata as national infrastructure, the United States risks ceding leadership in both AI and biotechnology at a critical moment.

The Strategic Importance of the AI-Biotechnology Nexus

Compute, talent, and capital are necessary for AI-enabled biotechnology, but biodata is the binding constraint. Without large, representative, and interoperable biological datasets, AI models cannot generalize, scale, or translate into real-world impact.

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BERLIN — Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s party has made a disappointing start to a year packed with German state elections, suffering a narrow defeat in an important industrial region after a prominent candidate powered the environmentalist Greens to a come-from-behind victory.

Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union was long confident of winning back the governor’s office in Baden-Württemberg, a region of more than 11 million people in southwestern Germany that is home to automakers Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, among many other companies. The country’s first and so far only Green governor, Winfried Kretschmann, is retiring after 15 years in charge of a traditional conservative heartland.

A CDU victory long looked likely despite the unpopularity of Merz’s 10-month-old federal government, which has struggled to get Germany’s stagnant economy moving. But the party’s poll lead shrank ahead of Sunday’s election thanks to a Green campaign focused on Cem Özdemir, a longtime federal lawmaker and former German agriculture minister.

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JERUSALEM: The investigative group Bellingcat says a newly released video “appears to contradict” United States President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was responsible for an explosion at an Iranian school that killed over 165 people at the start of the war raging in the Mideast.

It comes as mounting evidence points to US culpability for the Feb 28 strike, which hit a school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base in Minab, Iran, in the country’s southern Hormozgan Province.

Experts interviewed by The Associated Press, citing satellite image analysis, say the school was likely struck amid a quick succession of bombs dropped on the compound.

The video shared by Bellingcat is a three-second clip of a video taken the day the school was struck and circulated Sunday by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency.

 

Blurb:

If President Donald Trump is looking for a senator who embodies the spirit and action of “Republican in Name Only,” he couldn’t find no better man than milquetoast Texas Sen. John Cornyn.

The four-term RINO locked in a contentious GOP primary run-off battle against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton boasts a storied Senate career of genuflecting at the altar of the Swamp. Cornyn has been begging for Trump’s platinum endorsement more shamelessly than he’s prostituted himself for establishment cash.

And it’s looking like he might get the president’s seal of approval, if you can believe the Trump-hating Atlantic and other Pravda Press publications.

“President Trump’s political advisers expect him to endorse Senator John Cornyn in Texas’s May 26 Republican-primary runoff election following the incumbent’s better-than-expected finish against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the first round of voting [Tuesday] three people briefed on the deliberations told us,” The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker write.

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While Senate Majority Leader John Thune hems and haws about getting the SAVE America Act to President Trump’s desk, his home state just showed him up by passing its own version of it.

The South Dakota House of Representatives passed SB 175 on Wednesday. Much like the SAVE America Act, the SB 175 seeks to require documentary proof-of-citizenship for residents registering to vote. The House approved the measure in a veto-proof 64-3 vote after it successfully cleared the Senate (28-6) last month.

Sponsored by South Dakota Freedom Caucus Vice Chair and GOP Sen. John Carley, the bill now heads to Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden’s desk to be signed into law.

Blurb:

Conservatives: Michael Cooper, Todd Doherty, Tamara Jansen and Andrew Lawton.

Liberals: Hon Helena Jaczek, Annie Koutrakis, James Maloney, Marcus Powlowski and Kristina Tesser Derksen.

Bloc Québécois: Luc Thériault (BQ).

Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond, Hon. Yonah Martin, Hon. Rosemary Moodie, Hon. Pamela Wallin, Hon Kristopher David Wells.
The committee should not derail Private Members Bill C-218, which like it’s predecessor in the last parliament (Bill C-314) would prevent euthanasia (MAiD) for mental illness alone. Bill C-218 has gained significant traction within the governing Liberal Party. This committee may move the debate into the committee rather than parliament.Get the latest pro-life news and information on X (Twitter).

Blurb:

The UK has decided to spend resources on policing kids aged 13-17 on whether they are posting politically incorrect material online. Throughout this campaign, they hope to instill fear in the younger generation that what you retweet or like might get you convicted under the Terrorism Act.

According to Action Counters Terrorism:

Terrorist-related offending can include:
displaying the signs, symbols and slogans of terrorist groups
creating extremist content that celebrates terrorists or terrorist groups
sharing extremist content that celebrates terrorists or terrorist groups
encouraging other people to commit terrorist crimes
threatening acts of violence for terrorist causes online.

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Defending Education has launched a protest tracker of K-12 student walkouts, Blaze News has learned. The national grassroots organization released the tracker amid a surge of student protests against immigration enforcement efforts.

Defending Education estimated that the number of school protests has significantly increased since 2022. The organization gathered this information from social media posts, news articles, and press releases.

‘By allowing these protests, school leaders are increasing the chance of harm befalling students and decreasing much-needed instructional time in the classroom.’

Blurb:

For the second time in less than a month, Oregon Democrats have blocked consideration of a bill that would have guaranteed basic medical care to infants delivered alive after botched abortions.

“Pro-abortion lawmakers in the Oregon Senate voted against bringing a bill to the Senate floor Thursday that would require Oregon medical professionals to provide the same standards of care to babies born alive during failed abortions as newborns delivered under usual circumstances,” noted Oregon Right to Life’s Communication Director Ashley Sadler. 

All 18 Senate Democrats voted against SB 1554, the “Born Alive Infants Protection Act,” while all 12 Republicans voted in favor. 

Blurb:

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Election officials were counting votes Friday, a day after a parliamentary election in Nepal which was the first nationwide poll since a violent, youth-led uprising forced the former government from power in September.

The Election Commission said they had begun vote counting in 53 of the 165 constituencies by Friday morning, and expect to begin work in the remaining areas by the end of the day.

Some of the polling stations are high up in remote mountain villages, which are accessible only by days of hiking, leading authorities to arrange the transport of ballot boxes by helicopter to counting centers.

Blurb:

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales has exited his reelection runoff after an affair scandal with a former aide embroiled his campaign.

Gonzales released a short statement announcing his decision to withdraw without acknowledging the affair with a former staffer, who later committed suicide.

“At 18, I swore an oath to defend our nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. During my 20 years in the military and three terms in Congress, I have fought for that cause with absolute dedication to the country that I love,” he said.

Blurb:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he would consider dropping his senatorial bid if Congress would lift the filibuster in order to pass the SAVE America Act.

Paxton and Sen. John Cornyn are headed to a runoff in May after neither candidate secured a majority of the vote during Tuesday’s primary.

The SAVE America Act would require documentary proof of citizenship to register and voter ID to cast a ballot in federal elections. The legislation is overwhelmingly popular, with polling showing roughly 80 percent of Americans — including a large number of Democrats — support voter ID and citizenship requirements.

Blurb:

Of all the asteroids that have imperiled the planet, 2024 YR4 is unparalleled. Soon after it was spotted in December 2024, worldwide telescopic observations quickly positioned it as the most dangerous space rock ever discovered—one that stood a 3.1-percent (or 1-in-32) chance of crashing into Earth on December 22, 2032. If it were to hit one of the cities potentially in its path, this 60-meter asteroid would have unleashed a force comparable to several atomic bombs, devastating the unfortunate metropolis.

An Earth impact was eventually ruled out in February of last year. But a late plot twist revealed 2024 YR4 stood a 4.3-percent (1-in-23) chance of slamming into our moon on the same date. Now, a concerted effort by astronomers indicates the asteroid will comfortably miss our alabaster companion too—by 21,200 kilometers.

Blurb:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s clash with GOP senators this week was the final straw for President Donald Trump, though insiders say her fate had been sealed long before Tuesday’s hearing.

Two days after that hearing, Trump announced via social media that Noem would be replaced at DHS by Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), effective March 31. In the same statement, Trump announced that Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, would become the new special envoy for “The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere that’s expected to be formally announced on Saturday in Doral, Florida.

Blurb:

 

Republicans on Capitol Hill are preparing to confront a staggering price tag for the war in the Middle East after closed-door briefings this week detailed the rapid consumption of expensive munitions and the lack of any firm deadline for the end of the military campaign.

Asked how much the Iran offensive would cost, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) didn’t sugarcoat it.

“A lot,” he replied.