World, US, Culture, Market, and Sci-Tech News Aggregation from MSM and Independent News
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued several more pardons, including those for his political allies: former U.S. House member Michael Grimm of New York and ex-Connecticut Gov. John Rowland. Trump has largely circumvented the process run through the Department of Justice. Trump’s new pardon attorney Ed Martin last week reviewed commutation applications for the president to consider, a source told CNN.
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A US federal court has blocked President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, in a major blow to a key component of his economic policies.
The Court of International Trade ruled that an emergency law invoked by the White House did not give the president unilateral authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country.
The Manhattan-based court said the US Constitution gave Congress exclusive powers to regulate commerce with other nations and this was not superseded by the president’s remit to safeguard the economy.
The Trump administration lodged an appeal within minutes of the ruling.
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‘Being Catholic in public is not an offense on Columbia’s campus,’ free speech expert says
Following complaints, Columbia University’s Office of Institutional Equity recently confronted graduate student Daniel Di Martino for comments he made on social media expressing his Catholic beliefs and criticizing transgenderism.
Di Martino told The Fix the matter is now closed — but only after he went public. The doctoral student said the university closed the investigation after he published a story in City Journal detailing what happened.
The incident began when Di Martino “received an email from the OIE accusing [him] of ‘conduct that could constitute discriminatory harassment’” earlier this year, he wrote in his City Journal piece.
“The message included no details, and when [he] asked for clarification, OIE didn’t provide any,” Di Martino wrote. Then, three university officials called Di Martino in for a meeting to tell him he had been the subject of “multiple complaints.”
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A new study published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics has shown that Venus has at least 20 co-orbital asteroids that could potentially approach the Earth.
The study was led by Valerio Carruba from the University of São Paulo in Brazil. In it, researchers stated that some asteroids could pose a collisional hazard to Earth. There are allegedly many asteroids that could come close to or hit Earth. One asteroid is being considered a potential “city-killer.”
The study also showed that these asteroids could be difficult to spot, which would make it more challenging to predict how they might impact Earth, if at all. There are also asteroids that scientists are not yet aware of.
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We here at the Louder with Crowder Dot Com website have been viewing the Jake Tapper media tour with a degree of amusement. He’s promoting his “now it can be told” book, which claims that everything we said about Joe Biden was true (with that other quiet guy who sits next to him looking weird). Now, Tapper is admitting how everything we said about Democrats and the media is true.
But this new clip of him, a CNN employee, blasting the media for letting Democrats get away with the lawfare they declared on Donald Trump… what do you even say to this?
To set the stage, since Tapper was a guest on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast, here is Stephen A. pointing out the true crime committed by the People Who Controlled Joe Biden Administration as exposed in the book: it makes Donald Trump look right about everything.
Well, if you were willing to do that, then doesn’t it strengthen his argument that lawfare is being used against him?
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The court found the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which Trump has cited as his basis for ordering massive increases in import duties, does not authorize the use of tariffs.A three-judge panel ruled on several lawsuits arguing Trump exceeded his authority, casting doubt on trade policies that have jolted global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised uncertainty over the outlook for inflation and the global economy. The Trump administration filed an appeal, and it was unclear if the White House will respond to the ruling by pausing all of its emergency power tariffs in the interim.
Many of Trump’s double-digit tariff hikes are paused for up to 90 days to allow time for trade negotiations, but the uncertainty over their eventual outcome has stymied businesses and left consumers wary about what lies ahead.
“Just when traders thought they’d seen every twist in the tariff saga, the gavel dropped like a lightning bolt over the Pacific,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
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The federal government will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese international students, including those studying in “critical fields,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday — the latest restriction on foreign students.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio wrote in a statement.
Rubio also said the government will “revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.”
China is the second-largest country of origin for international students, behind only India. In the 2023-24 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the United States.
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Texas governor Greg Abbott called for the death penalty for two illegal immigrants accused in the hit-and-run death of 18-year-old Ava Moore, a newly enlisted US Air Force recruit, who was killed while kayaking on Grapevine Lake during Memorial Day weekend.“Welcome to Texas. Here’s your death penalty,” the Republican governor posted on X, alongside a video news report covering the arrests of Daikerlyn Alejandra Gonzalez Gonzalez and Maikel Perozo, both originally from Venezuela.Moore had just graduated from the US Air Force Academy Preparatory School and was preparing to begin basic training. She had been spending the holiday weekend with her family in North Texas when the tragic crash occurred on Sunday evening, the New York Post reported.
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Chaos erupted on the second day of aid operations by a new U.S.-backed group in Gaza as desperate Palestinians overwhelmed a center distributing food on Tuesday, breaking through fences.
Nearby Israeli troops fired warning shots, sending people fleeing in panic.
An AP journalist heard Israeli tank and gunfire and saw a military helicopter firing flares. The Israeli military said its troops fired the warning shots in the area outside the center and that “control over the situation was established.”
At least three injured Palestinians were seen by the Associated Press being brought from the scene, one of them bleeding from his leg.
The distribution hub outside Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah had been opened the day before by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations.
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Excerpt:British prosecutors have approved multiple charges against social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate, including rape and human trafficking. The brothers, who face similar charges in Romania, have denied any wrongdoing.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Wednesday that it had authorized 21 charges related to offences allegedly committed between 2012 and 2015, according to multiple media outlets. British authorities issued a warrant in 2024, but full details were released only on Wednesday.
Andrew Tate, 38, is accused of ten offences involving three alleged victims, including rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain. His brother Tristan, 36, faces 11 charges, including rape and human trafficking, related to one alleged victim.
“It is extremely important that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings,” the CPS was quoted as saying.
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Excerpt:The UK has said it wants to accelerate negotiations to conclude a trade deal with Donald Trump in the wake of the US court ruling that the sweeping tariffs he imposed on imports from more than 60 countries were illegal.
Despite Keir Starmer sealing the first deal with Trump since his so-called “liberation day” at the start of April no legal text exists to bring the concessions he won into force. The UK is also still threatened with a 10% reciprocal tariff on all exports outside the deal which was seen as a life saver for the car and steel industries.
The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, is expected to meet US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick at a meeting of the OECD in Paris next Tuesday.
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The death of Texas teem Ava Moore, who was set to attend the Air Force Academy, was but the latest in a long trail of death and destruction at the hands of criminal illegal aliens allowed to enter into the country unabated. And in an awful but predictable omission, most of the major newscasts neglected to report this story.
ABC World News Tonight was the only newscast to air the story. Here is that report in its entirety, as aired on Wednesday, May 28th, 2025:
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An illegal immigrant has been detained after another threat was made against President Donald Trump.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the arrest in a statement, saying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrested Ramon Morales Reyes.
“Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars,” she said.
On May 21, ICE office received a threatening letter they said came from Reyes.
“We are tired of this president messing with us Mexicans — we have done more for this country than you white people — you have been deporting my family and I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him,” the letter said, according to Noem’s statement.
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Excerpt:The FBI has been overwhelmed investigating James Comey “copycats” in the wake of his controversial “86 47” Instagram post, Director Kash Patel revealed Wednesday.“Do you know how many copycats we’ve had to investigate as a result of that beachside venture from the former director?” Patel told Fox News “Special Report” host Bret Baier, during an interview from the bureau’s academy in Quantico, Virginia.
Patel indicated that the uptick in potential threats against President Trump since Comey’s May 15 post has been so substantial that the FBI has had to redirect significant resources – including agents focused on child sex crimes and drug trafficking – to investigate them.
“Do you know how many agents I’ve had to take offline from chasing down child sex predators, fentanyl traffickers, terrorists .. because everywhere across this country people are popping up on social media and think that a threat to the life of the president of the United States is a joke … and they can do it because [Comey] did it?” the FBI chief said.
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Elon Musk announced that his time working in the Trump administration as a “Special Government Employee” is drawing to a close, and he thanked President Donald Trump.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote in a post on X. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Musk’s post comes as the New York Times reported that Musk is “operating with some distance from” Trump, with alleged “White House officials,” claiming that Musk is on “good terms” with the president, though he is “disillusioned with Washington and frustrated with the obstacles he encountered as he upended the federal bureaucracy”:
Mr. Musk, who once called himself the president’s “first buddy,” is now operating with some distance from Mr. Trump as he says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies. Mr. Musk remains on good terms with Mr. Trump, according to White House officials. But he has also made it clear that he is disillusioned with Washington and frustrated with the obstacles he encountered as he upended the federal bureaucracy, raising questions about the strength of the alliance between the president and the world’s richest man.
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The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has announced that the US will introduce new visa restrictions on “foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans”.
In a post on X, Rubio said that “Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights” and foreigners who “undermine” those rights “should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country”.
Here’s the full post:
For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights. Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life – a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.
Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country. Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed legislation on Tuesday to start the process of allowing Floridians to pay for goods and services with precious metals such as gold and silver.
A report will be given to the state legislature, which has until November 1, 2025, to ratify the rules. The law would take effect on July 1, 2026.
If ratified, the law would establish precious metals as a legal form of tender, but it specifies that accepting them would be optional, except for check cashers and money service businesses. Any business seeking to accept precious metals as payment must obtain a license.
“That means these precious metals can start functioning like real currency again, not just investment vehicles for the wealthy,” DeSantis said.
Purchases of precious metals will be exempt from sales tax.
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A Democratic mayor is under investigation for allegedly “aiding and abetting” the escape of illegal immigrants from custody, a Republican congressman has confirmed.
Freddie O’Connell, the progressive mayor of Nashville, is reportedly the target of an investigation exploring whether he provided material “aid” to illegal immigrants and obstructed an investigation by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.
Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the House Judiciary Committee are investigating a potential “criminal enterprise” involving federal funds.
“We’ve heard it: the individuals that the mayor is standing with are murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, sexual predators, child traffickers…the list goes on,” Ogles said from the Tennesee State Capitol building on Monday.
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A federal judge has sided with the Trump administration, resolving a dispute with New York Attorney General Letitia James about the expansive scope of cost-cutters to examine U.S. Treasury payments that they claim are laden with wasteful spending.
James was among 18 Democratic attorneys general who filed suit to block an investigation by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency into the Treasury payment system. The coterie was dealt a severe setback on Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas, for the Southern District of New York, lifted the last legal hurdle for the four DOGE employees tasked with carrying out the investigation.
An earlier order was also relaxed after the Trump administration showed evidence that it appropriately trained the four employees to safeguard sensitive taxpayer information during the probe. In April, Vargas granted access to one DOGE employee after they completed a similar training program.
Prior to those decisions, the judge, a Biden appointee, was mostly siding with the state prosecutors who argued that Treasury’s processes for granting access were poorly established, a likely violation of law.
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The Texas legislature has passed a bill protecting single sex spaces, such as girls’ locker rooms in schools, and mandating identification by biological sex on government-issued documents, including driver’s licenses and other photo IDs.
House Bill 229 passed in the Texas Senate early Wednesday by an exact party-line vote of 20 to 11, according to the Texas Tribune. The bill, which passed in the Texas House on May 12, defines “female” and “woman” as “an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova.”
The bill, sponsored by Republican Texas state Rep. Ellen Troxclair, also defines “male” or “man” as “an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.” The legislation also describes “sex” as “an individual’s biological sex, either male or female.”
Troxclair’s bill states that “there are legitimate reasons to distinguish” between men and women “with respect to athletics, prisons … domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, locker rooms, restrooms, and other areas where biology, safety, or privacy are implicated.”
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The Trump administration is implementing visa restrictions on foreign nationals with histories of censoring Americans, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday.
“For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights,” Rubio wrote in an X post. “Free speech is essential to the American way of life — a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.”
According to the secretary, this new policy “will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans.” Any noncitizen “who work[s] to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country,” he added.
“Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over,” Rubio wrote.
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A new study reveals the biological secret to the Zika virus’s infectious success: Zika uses host cells’ own “self-care” system of clearing away useless molecules to suppress the host proteins that the virus has employed to get into those cells in the first place.
While these cell surface proteins are valuable for viral entry, they also have roles in producing an antiviral response. Before that can happen, the virus manipulates a process cells use to keep themselves healthy to lower the proteins’ activity, clearing the way for unfettered viral infection.
Though other viruses, such as HIV, are known to silence host receptors that let them into cells, Zika is unusual for having at least three of its own proteins that can get the job done, said Shan-Lu Liu, senior author the study and a virology professor in the Department of Veterinary Biosciences at The Ohio State University.
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On March 20, 2025, members of the World Health Organization adopted the world’s first pandemic agreement, following three years of “intensive negotiations launched by governments in response to the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The U.S., however, did not participate, in part because of its intention to withdraw from the WHO.
Global health experts are hailing the agreement as a historic moment.
What does the agreement mean for the world, and how can it make everyone safer and more prepared for the next pandemic?
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“This also strengthens Telegram’s financial position: we will receive $300M in cash and equity from xAI, plus 50% of the revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram.”
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov announced on Wednesday that the company has teamed up with Elon Musk’s xAI to bring the AI chatbot Grok to the messaging platform.
Durov wrote that he and Musk have agreed to a one-year partnership to bring Grok to Telegram’s users, and Grok will be integrated across all Telegram apps. “This also strengthens Telegram’s financial position: we will receive $300M in cash and equity from xAI, plus 50% of the revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram,” Durov wrote.
A video posted by Durov stated that the partnership will see Grok pinned for all users on Telegram, will appear in the search bar when asking a question, provide message editing and chat summaries, summarize documents posted in Telegram chats, and can serve as a moderator. The inclusion of Grok will begin in the “summer of 2025,” the video stated.