02 U.S. Politics

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Illinois Right to Life is celebrating the close of the 2025 legislative session with a significant victory: the defeat of a dangerous Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) bill that would have legalized physician assisted suicide in our state.

The Illinois Legislature attempted multiple strategies to push this bill through, including a legislative sleight of hand: after identical PAS bills stalled in both the House and Senate, proponents amended a food sanitation bill, stripping its original content and replacing it with PAS language. The maneuver allowed the bill to reach the House floor, where it passed. However, the Senate did not vote to concur with the amended language—effectively killing the bill for now.

“This is a critical win for Illinois’ most vulnerable citizens,” said Mary Kate Zander, President of Illinois Right to Life. “Our lawmakers heard from thousands of Illinoisans who refused to allow death to become a state-sanctioned ‘treatment.’ We are grateful to our coalition partners, and most of all, to the countless constituents who made their voices heard. We give glory to God.”

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The U.S. Department of Education has notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (the “Commission”) that Columbia University is not in compliance with the Commission’s accreditation requirements.

From the DoEd Press Release:

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today notified Middle States Commission on Higher Education (the Commission) that its member institution, Columbia University, is in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore fails to meet the standards for accreditation set by the Commission. Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order, Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education, the Department has an obligation to promptly provide accreditors with any noncompliance findings related to member institutions.

The Commission’s “Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation” state that “a candidate or accredited institution possesses or demonstrates … compliance with all applicable government laws and regulations.” In light of OCR’s determination, Columbia University no longer appears to meet the Commission’s accreditation standards.

“After Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University’s leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus. This is not only immoral, but also unlawful. Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid. They determine which institutions are eligible for federal student loans and Pell Grants. Just as the Department of Education has an obligation to uphold federal antidiscrimination law, university accreditors have an obligation to ensure member institutions abide by their standards,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “We look forward to the Commission keeping the Department fully informed of actions taken to ensure Columbia’s compliance with accreditation standards including compliance with federal civil rights laws.” ….

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Trump’s approval is currently higher than ratings for Obama or Bush in their second terms. Talk about a major media fail.

The media has had Trump on blast for months, criticizing his words and every move. For them, everything is gloom and doom, and yet, the American people don’t see things that way.

Remember how the media treated Obama? For them, Obama walked on water, he could do no wrong. But despite their constant trash talk, Trump is more popular than Obama was at this point in his second term. What does that tell you?

RedState reports:

Democrats Are Going to Be Livid When They See Trump’s Latest Approval Numbers

Democrats are going to be downright livid when they learn that President Donald Trump’s approval numbers are higher than both former President Barack Obama’s and former President George W. Bush’s in their second terms at this same time, according to a new poll.

On Wednesday, RealClearPolitics’ Tom Bevan posted on X that “As of two days ago, Trump’s approval rating in the RCP Avg (47.5%) is higher than Obama’s and Bush’s at this point in their second terms.”

The outlet noted that at this same time in Obama’s presidency, his job approval sat at 47.1, and Bush’s was at 45.9. Bevan’s post included a chart that showed a visual of how Trump was ahead of both past presidents.

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I think my head is going to explode…

The Supreme Court just handed down a 9-0 unanimous ruling, written by Far-Left social justice warrior Ketanji Brown, effectively ENDING “reverse discrimination”.

My head is still spinning!

Is this real life?

Here is a quick summary of what just happened:

  • In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court revived a reverse discrimination lawsuit by a straight woman denied a promotion.

  • Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — a liberal justice — wrote the majority opinion, striking down the higher legal burden for majority-group plaintiffs.

  • Jackson said the law must apply equally, regardless of whether someone is in a minority or majority group.

  • The ruling is shocking to some, as it came from the Court’s most progressive justice, and supports claims often associated with conservatives.

  • The decision eliminates an extra hurdle for white or straight plaintiffs in discrimination cases.

  • Justice Clarence Thomas also slammed the old rule as unconstitutional and race-based.

  • The case now goes back to lower courts for further proceedings.

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President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into the alleged use of an autopen to sign pardons under the Biden administration without the former president’s knowledge.

“In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority,” the presidential memorandum says. “This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.”

Though Biden appeared to suffer from cognitive decline, the White House issued more than 1,200 presidential documents, appointed 235 federal judges to the Federal bench, and issued many pardons and commutations.

Shortly before Christmas 2024, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 death row criminals.

Trump ordered an investigation into activity designed to hide Biden’s health from the public, agreements between Biden aides to elevate the former president’s abilities, and the circumstances around Biden’s executive actions during his final years in office, particularly policy documents signed with autopen.

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The Senate on Thursday confirmed anti-aging research investor Jim O’Neill for the second-highest position at the Department of Health and Human Services, a step toward an era of deregulation in biomedical research from the highest levels of the department.

O’Neill, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve one step below HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as deputy secretary, was confirmed on partisan lines in a vote of 52 to 43.

O’Neill’s long record of funding anti-aging research and advocacy for deregulation in bringing new health innovations to market could become a new pillar of the Make America Healthy Again agenda, reshaping federal public health programs.

During the first Trump administration, O’Neill was floated as a nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration because of his work on FDA reform during his six-year tenure in the George W. Bush HHS. He was ultimately passed over for the role in favor of Dr. Scott Gottlieb.

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The Trump administration gave Customs and Border Protection the green light to move forward with border wall projects across Arizona and New Mexico.

The Department of Homeland Security instructed CBP to ignore environmental regulations and immediately begin building 36 miles of barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, CBP announced Thursday.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem issued a waiver, including against the National Environmental Policy Act, for the federal government to begin construction of 18- to 30-foot slatted walls and roads without having to wait for normal administrative approvals.

The largest part of the 36-mile project, 24 miles called the Tucson Sonoita Project, will go up in the Nogales, Arizona, region, and another two miles of the project will be constructed in the Tucson region of the border.

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The Trump administration has charged the surveillance firm Palantir with agglomerating the US population’s personal data across government agencies, raising alarm about a centralized spying tool targeting hundreds of millions without oversight. Wall Street responded to the news by sending Palantir’s stock price to unprecedented heights.

During an end-of-year investor call this February, Palantir co-founder and militant Zionist Alex Karp bragged that his company was making a financial killing by enabling mass murder.

“Palantir is here to disrupt and make the institutions we partner with the very best in the world and, when it’s necessary, to scare enemies,” he stated, adding: “And on occasion, kill them.”  

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In this article I will be proposing an early framework for a mental health intervention called depsychiatrization. Depsychiatrization describes the processes by which a diagnosed individual learns to expel psychiatrically induced self-concepts and substitute them for more empowering and nurturing understandings. These processes are not, in themselves, entirely novel, as they have been a part of many alternative movements throughout time. It is the ambition behind this proposal to formalize a way of helping and supporting people who would benefit from depsychiatrization, as well as supplying a legitimizing platform to stand on for those who wish to encourage growth without pathology.

Much has been written on the many ways in which psychiatry does harm to individuals seeking help for mental health issues: The medical treatments are far too often more harmful than beneficial, especially in the long run. The symptom-focused therapeutic treatments rarely produce sustainable outcomes leading to better lives. For instance, electroshock therapy is a disputed method at best, a harmful, medieval practice at worst.

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President Donald Trump returned to Washington in January with a mandate from the American people to end mass migration. That same month, however, the foreign-born population living within America’s borders hit a record high, in an echo of the Roman Empire. Is it too late to save America from mass migration? Even if America is saved, will it be fundamentally changed in the process?

As a California farmer, Victor Davis Hanson faces the reality of this demographic change every day. As a historian and classicist, he knows all too well what happens to regimes and empires that fail to confront mass migration. This week, he joins “The Signal Sitdown” to discuss.

“Everybody,” Hanson told The Daily Signal, “is bewildered why [former President] Joe Biden, or whoever was controlling him, did this.”

Hanson described the pressure to keep migrants streaming into the country as “a consortium of interests” that include corporations (which desire cheap labor), other nations (which benefit from remittances), the cartels, and liberal ideologues.

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Two Chinese researchers were allegedly involved in what could have developed into an attack on America’s food supply.

Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, were charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud, according to a Department of Justice news release.

The release said they are accused of “smuggling into America a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon.”

According to the release, China’s communist government funded Jian’s research in China. The complaint said that when law enforcement scanned her electronic devices, they found documentation of her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. Liu, who has claimed he was Jian’s boyfriend, also conducted research on the same pathogen.

Liu has admitted to authorities that he smuggled Fusarium graminearum into America to conduct research with Jian.

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A young mother in India has died after her husband allegedly forced her to take abortion pills, reportedly due to a superstitious belief about pregnancy interfering with housewarming rituals.

“Pravallika,” 23, was six months pregnant when she suffered heavy bleeding and died following an allegedly coerced abortion in Adilabad district, Telangana, on Saturday. Her husband, S. Prashant, is accused by her family of administering the pills against her will and then fleeing the scene.

According to a police complaint filed by her brother, Pravallika had taken the pills under pressure from Prashant, who claimed pregnancy would interfere with religious ceremonies for their new home.

Pravallika’s relatives say he held the belief that a woman should not be pregnant while engaging in the housewarming rites, known as Griha Pravesh. Online sources, like the Mumbai-based Housing.com, repeat this prohibition, although not as an absolute rule.

Pravallika was initially treated at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Adilabad but was transferred to Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad when her condition worsened. She died Saturday evening.

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A 37-year-old Muslim man from Michigan who planned to “even the score” and use guns for “God’s wrath” after threatening Jewish preschoolers pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Hassan Chokr, of Dearborn, Michigan, “aggressively targeted Jewish parents and their preschool children at a local synagogue in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. After unleashing a menacing antisemitic tirade against them, he lied and attempted to buy several firearms at a Dearborn gun store,” the Department of Justice stated.

“In December 2022, Chokr, 37, drove through the parking lot of a Jewish synagogue as parents walked their preschoolers into the building, yelling profanities and attacking their support for Israel,” the DOJ noted.

The DOJ’s statement continues:

“After being asked to leave, Chokr drove to a gun store in Dearborn. While there, he possessed a Landor Arms, 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun; a Del-ton, 5.56mm rifle; and a Glock, 9mm semi-automatic pistol. He held each firearm, and at times pointed it and pulled the trigger.”

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A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from deporting the family of Mohamad Soliman, the individual suspected of firebombing a gathering of Israel supporters in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday.

Judge Gordon P. Gallagher’s ruling stated that the administration cannot remove Soliman’s wife and five children from the District of Colorado or the United States pending a ruling from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. “[T]he Court finds that deportation without process could work irreparable harm and an order must issue without notice due to the urgency this situation presents,” the judge wrote.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested the family earlier this week and was preparing to deport them before the judge’s ruling, The Hill reported.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to deport the family of Boulder, Colo., attacker Mohamed Soliman’s wife and five children.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday that the family had been detained in connection with the investigation, saying they would face questioning over whether they had any knowledge of the attack.

But according to a DHS statement Wednesday, ICE was said to be “processing them for removal.”

The statement sheds new light on a White House social media post Tuesday that said the family “could be deported by tonight.”

“Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed’s Wife and Five Kids. Final Boarding Call Coming Soon,” the White House’s post said, along with an emoji of an airplane.

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The Trump administration told Columbia University’s accreditor on Wednesday that the Ivy League school violated civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish students, putting its status at risk.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that Columbia was “in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore fails to meet the standards for accreditation set by the Commission,” the agency announced. It pointed to the commission’s policies stating that accredited schools must be in “compliance with all applicable government laws and regulations.”

The departments of Education and Health and Human Services determined on May 22 that Columbia “acted with deliberate indifference towards discriminatory harassment against Jewish students.” That puts the university in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects students based on national origin, including shared ancestry.

Without accreditation, colleges and universities are not eligible for federal financial aid, including student loans, and employers are less likely to see a degree from an unaccredited institution as legitimate. While university accreditation is meant to hinge on a school’s education quality, accreditors—who are overseen by the Education Department—have increasingly considered other factors, like DEI policies.

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The Trump administration raised tariffs on aluminum and steel to 50% today, a move experts say could increase costs on everything from homes and cars to household and office supplies.

While the U.S. has carved out its own niche in domestic metals manufacturing, it also relies on imports from abroad to fill in the gaps: America imported 26.2 million metric tons of steel and 5.4 million metric tons of aluminum from abroad last year, according to the International Trade Administration. Canada serves as the biggest foreign source for both metals.

The White House has been aggressively trying to pare back on America’s reliance on foreign nations, imposing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum in February, citing national security concerns. President Trump, during a visit to a U.S. Steel mill in Pittsburgh on May 30, announced he was doubling down on that rate, raising the 25% levies to 50%. The higher tariffs went into effect Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. EST.

While the new tariffs have won over some of the nation’s largest steel makers, who saw huge gains in share prices following Mr. Trump’s May 30 announcement, experts say the levies will raise cost of manufacturing on a wide range of products, making many items more expensive to buy. That’s because businesses typically pass on most or all of tariff-related costs to consumers through higher prices, according to economists.

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday angrily urged Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to cut interest rates, minutes after the payroll firm ADP reported its lowest private-sector jobs number in years.

“ADP NUMBER OUT!!! ‘Too Late’ Powell must now LOWER THE RATE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“He is unbelievable!!!” the president said of the central bank chairman, whom he has frequently pressured to shave borrowing rates in hopes of spurring economic growth.

Trump added: “Europe has lowered NINE TIMES!”

ADP’s report showed private payrolls ticked up by just 37,000 in May, far below the Dow Jones forecast for 110,000.

It was the lowest monthly reading from ADP since March 2023.

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Republican allies close to the White House are privately arguing that the former special government employee — who spent Tuesday afternoon blasting the spending bill and threatening to retaliate against its supporters — is opposing the bill because it harms the tech billionaire’s business interests.

The House-passed megabill represents the president’s chief — and potentially only — major legislative priority this Congress. But Elon Musk’s opposition suggests that the coalition that vaulted Trump to the White House is still facing internal disagreement over it as it makes its way through the Senate. It marks another dust-up between the MAGA and Tech Right. And it raises the possibility some members face pressure from Musk if they ultimately support it. 

“The West Wing is perplexed, unenthused, and disappointed” with Musk, who left the White House to attend to his ailing business empire, according to one White House official, who like others interviewed for this story were granted anonymity to be candid about an ally who spent hundreds of millions to ensconce them in the White House.

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Merz arrives at White House for high-stakes Oval Office talk with President Donald Trump in the same format as recent clashes with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.

Update 11:59 ET — Joke at Germany’s expense 

President Trump says he’s happy about Germany spending more on defence, but jokingly citing the Second World War says that while he wants Germany to re-arm, he doesn’t want it to re-arm too much. This gets a smile out of Merz.

Germany’s military spending, which has been rock-bottom for many years, has long been a matter of contention with President Trump, who wants Europe to take on more responsibility for its own defence. As Trump himself has expressed, the contradiction between Germany’s historically low military spending and its position of Europe’s greatest economy had been too much to bear.

Germany has launched an emergency spending package to boost its armed forces but this tranche of funding is only due to run to 2027.

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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Vladimir Putin intends to retaliate “very strongly” against Ukraine for a surprise drone strike on Russian airfields over the weekend, a declaration that provoked alarm in Washington and abroad even as Trump touted his efforts to bring peace to the region.

The revelation came in a social media post shortly after Trump spoke with the Russian President for more than an hour by phone—a call he described as “a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace.” In his statement, Trump appeared to accept Putin’s warning at face value and offered no indication that he had urged restraint.

“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to Ukraine’s surprise drone strike that targeted five Russian airbases and damaged or destroyed at least 41 military aircraft, including strategic bombers. The Ukrainian operation, which spanned five time zones and caused an estimated $7 billion in damage, marked one of Kyiv’s boldest assaults deep inside Russian territory since the war began more than three years ago.

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Former ESPN and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann opened his Countdown podcast Tuesday with a segment which could only be described as the ravings of a lunatic. The topic of his ten-minute tirade:  “the blood of Boulder, Colorado, is on the hands of Donald Trump.” If that relatively unsupported claim didn’t seem extreme enough, Olbermann doubled down, describing Trump’s “ethnic cleansing” policy, which supposedly exclusively targeted the innocent illegal immigrants while ignoring actual criminals.

In Olbermann’s own words:

They are looking for innocent people and those guilty of misdemeanors or things less than misdemeanors to purge, to remove, to cleanse! We got little notice last week, but Rubio, rapidly rising to the top of the hypocrisy charts to replace even Lindsey Graham for largest percentage of soul sold, announced a reorganization of the State Department that would in essence eliminate all efforts inside that department to provide a haven here for foreign nationals who have helped this country, like the thousands of people in Afghanistan who fought the Taliban with us before Trump surrendered to the Taliban. It would eliminate that department and replace it with, quote, “the Office of Remigration.”

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Even Democrats in Nevada’s state legislature–a key battleground state–now favor voter ID, but with a catch.

The catch was the bill also expands ballot drop boxes, typically favored by Democrats, which Republicans view with skepticism.

The bill passed the Senate Monday with a 16-5 vote, and now heads to Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has expressed support in the past for voter ID, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Lombardo vetoed a bill earlier in the session that expanded ballot drop boxes. Assembly Speaker Steve Yager, a Democrat, sponsored Assembly Bill 499 as a compromise.

Nevada is one of 14 states that do not require photo ID for in-person voting. Since 2021, multiple states passed election reforms expanded some form of ID requirement to mail-in voting.