The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) premier automaker, BYD, is selling a $12,000 Electric Vehicle (EV) that “could be a nightmare” for the United States auto industry without an all-out ban or steeper tariffs on such cars made by Chinese companies.
A report from the Detroit News, which interviewed several industry insiders, details the impact that BYD’s all-electric Seagull — which sells for just $12,000 in China and about $21,000 in Latin America — may have on American auto workers without fierce trade protections.
Currently, former President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on China-made cars are the only reason BYD and other Chinese automakers have not flooded the U.S. market with cheap EVs to sell to American consumers.
Red Lobster is closing multiple locations across America and equipment and furniture at the stores is being auctioned off.
The chain has not made an announcement, but restaurant liquidator TAGeX Brands said it was selling off kitchen equipment and supplies and furniture from more than 50 locations that are closing, according to Business Insider.
Meanwhile, Business Insider reported, local news organizations “from Orlando to Buffalo reported that locations had been listed as ‘temporarily closed’” on the Red Lobster website.
A syndicated report being carried across the country notes that “more than 80 Red Lobster locations in at least 27 states” have been affected.
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. announced on an earnings call that the game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League lost the company $200 million.
On the Q1 2024 earnings call, investors heard from President and CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.
Zaslav broke the bad news first and stated that “unfortunately,” the studio’s Q1 financials were overshadowed by the tough sales in the games department “following the great performance of Hogwarts Legacy last year and the disappointing release of Suicide Squad in Q1 in our gaming group.”
“On the advertising front,” Zaslav continued, “total company ad sales were down 7% in the quarter.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued to attack Hamas terrorists in Rafah and throughout Gaza on Monday, which was Israel’s independence day, despite continued international criticism and caution from the White House.
In a statement, the IDF said:
IDF troops continue their operations against terror targets in the area of eastern Rafah and on the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing. IDF troops eliminated several armed terrorist cells in close-quarters encounters on the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing.
In eastern Rafah, IDF troops eliminated a number of terrorists and located weapons. An IAF aircraft struck a terrorist cell that was exiting a launch site. In addition, the IDF struck a launch post from which additional terrorists operated and fired at IDF troops.
Overnight, IDF troops expanded their activity in the area of Jabalya and conducted targeted operations on additional terror targets in the area.
Over the past day, the troops engaged in a number of battles, eliminated by tank fire dozens of terrorists who shot at the troops and dismantled an explosives network that was planted in the area.
An IAF aircraft struck and eliminated a terrorist armed with an RPG who was identified near IDF troops and was on his way to fire toward them.
Furthermore, IDF troops have continued their operation on terror targets in the area of Zeitoun over the past day. During the activity, IDF troops located tunnel shafts and dismantled several launchers. In addition, IDF troops eliminated several terrorists and dismantled a weapons storage facility and additional terrorist infrastructure.
Yesterday (Monday), IAF fighter jets struck a war room of the terrorist organizations in the central Gaza Strip and eliminated five terrorists that were operating in it.
Moreover, IDF troops eliminated by tank fire several terrorists that were moving toward IDF troops operating in the area.
Additionally, over the past day, IAF fighter jets and additional aircraft struck over 100 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including armed terrorists, booby-trapped structures, and additional terrorist infrastructure.
The IDF distributed photos of its soldiers in action across the Gaza Strip:
There were also unconfirmed reports on social media of IDF soldiers enjoying independence day fireworks in Rafah:
Givati Brigade in #Rafah Documentation taken by Follower A from the Givati Brigade last night in Rafah – fireworks on the occasion of Independence Day. Happy Independence Day pic.twitter.com/qHdLWYQw3h
In addition, the IDF struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The airstrikes were rumored to have used bunker-busting bombs that can penetrate underground fortifications at depth, according to the Abu Ali Express Telegram account.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
$6bn California agricultural company founded by Biden and Newsom donors sues state to stop a law meant to help farmworkers unionize
One of California’s most influential agricultural companies filed a lawsuit Monday against the state to stop a contentious law to help farmworkers unionize that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom reluctantly signed two years ago after pressure from the White House.
The action by the Wonderful Co. comes as it battles the United Farm Workers over a newly formed UFW local of 640 workers at one of its businesses. The $6 billion company founded by Stewart and Lynda Resnick, who have donated to President Joe Biden and Newsom, makes a host of products recognizable to most grocery store shoppers, including Halos mandarin oranges, Wonderful Pistachios, POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and Fiji Water brands.
Michael Cohen’s Testimony Gets Off To A Rough Start
Deputies to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg began the quizzing with relatively innocuous questions about Cohen’s work history with Trump, who allegedly paid him $525,000 annually toward the end of the 2016 election. Cohen has maintained that he personally paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who testified last week, to silence her from speaking with reporters about a tryst with Trump more than a decade ago…
Cohen further stepped on the prosecution’s case when he described the atmosphere of his former workplace. Working for Trump, “was fantastic… working for him of those 10 years was an amazing experience… there were great times, there were less than great times, but for the most part, I enjoyed the responsibilities given to me,” he testified.
In a ruling that many in the religious community see as a threat to their own tax-exempt status, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that Catholic Charities, a Catholic Non-Profit that serves the poor and the homeless, is not, fundamentally a religious organization because serving the poor and homeless isn’t a religious act.
It turns out all the claims that American needs immigrants because there are more jobs than people might not be as true as many have been claiming for the past decade. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a report that of the immigrants who have arrived in the U.S. after 2022, only 46 percent are gainfully employed.
Bank of America has suddenly terminated the account of independent journalist and documentarian Christina Urso, also known as Radix Verum. According to a video posted by Urso herself, Bank of America not only terminated her account, but has frozen her assets as well.
Representative Tom Suozzi (D-NY) was caught paying a Chinese Communist Party agent thousands of dollars to place ads in a Chinese-owned newspaper. Suozzi also happens to be on the House committee currently investigating China’s alleged ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs.
A recent paper from the Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) suggests Artificial Intelligence (AI) is learning how to use various forms of deception to achieve the goals they were programmed to complete.
Peter S. Park, the paper’s author, said of the paper, ‘Generally speaking, we think AI deception arises because a deception-based strategy turned out to be the best way to perform well at the given AI’s training task. Deception helps them achieve their goals.”
A recent paper from the Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) suggests Artificial Intelligence (AI) is learning how to use various forms of deception to achieve the goals they were programmed to complete.
Based on congressional testimony from top military officials, Kash Patel, the former chief of staff of Donald Trump, is claiming that the military flat out ignored orders by President Trump to call the national guard to assure the January 6 protests didn’t get out of hand.
The board at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill voted to cut funding from diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and instead divert the funds to increase public safety.
If approved by the full board, the decision would move $2.3 million to help police the campus.
“It’s important to consider the needs of all 30,000 students, not just the 100 or so that may want to disrupt the university’s operations,” said budget committee vice-chair Marty Kotis. “It takes away resources for others.”
‘I don’t think it gives a return on investment to taxpayers.’
He also said that the funds needed to be funneled to police in order to provide enough security to protect students and faculty.
“They do not have all the tools they need right now to keep this campus safe from a larger threat,” Kotis said about the police.
A woman at the Central California Facility for Women says she witnessed the immediate aftermath of a jailhouse rape by a transgender inmate.
Mimi Le provided a sworn declaration to lawyers with the Women’s Liberation Front, which will be included in the organization’s case against California, according to evidence from the filing obtained by Reduxx.
Le reportedly said she was one of many inmates who saw events involving what was described as a “sexual assault” committed by a man who identifies as a woman and was therefore locked up in a women’s prison.
On May 19, a female inmate was taken to a medical-administrative building after other female inmates reported to staff that she had been raped, Le explained, adding that she found the woman to be “barely conscious.”
The 21 young plaintiffs leading the most closely watched US climate lawsuit of the last decade face an uncertain legal future, thanks to a federal government victory that threatens to end the case for now.
Judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit quashed the case on May 1, accepting a February mandamus bid from the Justice Department asking for the panel to dismiss the lawsuit.
The decision compels Judge Ann Aiken of the US District Court for the District of Oregon to toss the case, which she had resurrected last year under an amended complaint that raised the possibility the young people would make it to trial.
The move to permanently defeat the case is “tragic and unjust,” and the US should come to agreement at the settlement table instead, according to Julia Olson, Our Children’s Trust chief legal counsel and an attorney in Juliana v. US.
Advocacy groups say schools must do more to protect staff from antisemitism
A Jewish administrator has a new home at a Catholic college after she says a “hate-filled” backlash drove her from job at Clark University
Mary Jane Rein recently resigned as executive director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the Massachusetts college, citing “unruly and hate-filled” backlash to her Jewish advocacy work and a lack of support from Clark’s administrators.
Now, she works at Assumption College, a Catholic institution, where she said she feels more welcome.
A Jewish advocacy organization predicted more colleges will lose valued scholars like Rein unless they do more to stop antisemitism.
Over the weekend, a Louisiana church that was filled with families and small children got a shock as a teenager dressed all in black entered the building during a first communion mass armed with a rifle.
Luckily, the parishioners acted quickly and piled on top of the would-be shooter, stopping him in his tracks.
This is an excellent reminder that people have to be aware, be vigilant, and act quickly at the first signs of trouble.
Terrifying Moments: Teenager With Gun Stopped at First Communion Mass in Louisiana
The folks at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Abbeville, Louisiana, were having a First Communion mass for about 60 kids on Saturday. They likely thought that they were going to have a beautiful celebration together.
But unfortunately, they also had some scary moments that intruded on the solemnity of the day. As the priest Fr. Nicholas Duper was on the altar, at about 48 minutes in, you can see a man come up to the altar, bend over, and whisper in his ear. That is certainly not a usual occurrence during a Catholic mass. You can see the priest absorbing something, and then he suddenly asks the parishioners to sit and to pray, as he starts to say a “Hail Mary.”…
George Mason University has at least 87 staffers working on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to an analysis by The College Fix. To put that in perspective, there are 59 full-time history and art history professors employed at the school.
Of the 87 DEI posts, it’s a mix of employees and students with full-time or part-time positions working to advance DEI in some capacity, and most of those positions appear to be paid and full-time, the analysis found.
The roles include vice president for DEI and chief diversity officer, director of the Center for Culture, Equity and Empowerment, and director of faculty diversity, inclusion and well-being.
‘Depriving people of meaningful rituals,’ anthropologist says
Many high school seniors lost the opportunity to attend commencement four years ago due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Now, some of those same students are graduating from college and, once again, missing out on the momentous occasion.
Columbia University, the University of Southern California, Pomona College, and Emory University, among others, recently canceled or modified their commencement ceremonies due to safety concerns after raucous pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
Other recent graduation ceremonies have been disrupted by protesters, including at Duke University, Virginia Commonwealth University, UC Berkeley, Emerson College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Axiosreported.
A court in Germany ruled on Monday, May 13th that the anti-globalist, anti-immigration party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) can be designated as a “suspected extremist organisation.” This means that the domestic intelligence agency, Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), has the right to spy on the party, using such intelligence tools as phone tapping, intercepting emails, or recruiting informants from inside the party.
In its verdict, the court said “there is sufficient evidence that the AfD pursues goals that run against the human dignity of certain groups and against democracy.” The judges added: “There are grounds to suspect at least part of the party wants to accord second-rank status to German citizens with a migration background.” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser welcomed the ruling as showing that the “state has instruments that protect our democracy from threats from within.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Heather Idoni, 59, who had a stroke two weeks ago, disclosed to LifeSiteNews that she is a victim of gross medical neglect at the D.C. jail, which has failed to administer essential medication for her heart while falsifying her medical record as she awaits sentencing next week for taking part in a traditional pro-life rescue.
Idoni said she received three stints above her heart for three major arteries. While she was prescribed several medications, some of which she has been given, she has been denied one essential medication prescribed by the doctor to be taken once a day to lower her blood pressure.
“It’s just the metoprolol that I’ve had a difficult time with,” she said. “I haven’t even been given one dose.”
I recently was back in the basement of my parents’ home, digging through old yearbooks and photo albums. My brother nagged me to find the old stereo with the turntable and vinyl records. In an age of modernity, it seems we can’t help but long for the things that have been indeed “crushed,” as recently illustrated by Apple’s new iPad ad.
Last week, Apple faced so much backlash to its new commercial bragging about the destruction of humanity, that the company quickly apologized and admitted it “missed the mark.” Particularly for those of us who are old enough to remember all of the musical, gaming, and artistic icons crushed by the huge hunk of metal’s descent to generate the “thinnest iPad ever,” the ad justified every fear we have of technology overtaking our lives. It also goes to show how out of touch the technocratic elites are with not only the experience of everyday Americans but humanity.
British actor Hugh Grant said it best in his caustic criticism of the ad: “The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley.”
While “wide right” and “fake punt” still haunt me from the AFC divisional round, the Kansas City Chiefs are the 2024 Super Bowl Champions. Harrison Butker, the team’s kicker, gave the commencement address at Benedictine College, where he blasted alleged Catholic Joe Biden for being the most pro-abortion president America has ever had.
See, while the media wants us to believe Joe Biden is a “devout” Catholic because those are the talking points given to them by the Biden Admin, Butker is of the belief that a devout Catholic wouldn’t give the sign of the cross at the pro-abortion rally (in front of literally tens of people).
Our own nation is led by a man who proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the Sign of The Cross during a pro-abortion rally… Being Catholic alone does not cut it… We need to stop pretending that the church of nice is a winning proposition.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has traveled to Ukraine to emphasize America’s “enduring support” for the embattled Eastern European nation that has been fighting a war against Russia for more than two years, according to a press statement from a State Department spokesperson.
“Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken arrived in Ukraine today to meet with senior Ukrainian officials and highlight the United States’ enduring support for Ukraine. While in Ukraine, Secretary Blinken will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to discuss battlefield updates, the impact of new U.S. security and economic assistance, long-term security and other commitments, and ongoing work to bolster Ukraine’s economic recovery. He will emphasize America’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democracy in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,” the statement notes.
On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that while Israel can launch a major offensive in Rafah without new American weapons, whether Israel can “adequately deter all of the different entities who want to attack it, Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, various other militia groups without that support” is “a much tougher question.”
Smith said, “Prime Minister Netanyahu has put Israel, the U.S., and the entire Middle East in a very difficult place. We do not want to withdraw support from Israel, at least I don’t and the president doesn’t. We saw that when Iran attacked Israel a few weeks ago, if we are not able to help Israel defend itself, this war could spread as Iran and Hezbollah decide to jump into that void. But, at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu is pursuing a strategy that is not in the best interests of Israel and not in the best interests of peace. He has no plan for a post-Hamas Gaza. So, the president has been trying every lever we have to change that. But we don’t really have the power to just force them to do something differently, and as I said, completely abandoning them comes with a high amount of risk for peace in the region as well. That’s what President Biden’s trying to navigate.”
I don’t know what to say other than don’t start wars that you can’t win. Of course, rational actors know this, but Hamas isn’t of that mindset. They’re a genocidal terrorist group that spent 17 years building underground tunnel networks to protect their members but intentionally neglected to build bomb shelters for its people in case hostilities broke out. With Hamas, war was their policy from the outset, aimed at destroying Israel.
There are reports that Gaza’s healthcare system could collapse within hours. It’s not surprising, given that Israel now controls most of the region in their months long military operation to destroy Hamas, which will be successful. These people have nowhere to go. The Left will blame Israel, but it’s Hamas’ fault. This entire war and all the suffering it has created is Hamas’ fault. The October 7 attacks were Hamas’ fault. Not agreeing to numerous ceasefire proposals submitted over the past months is Hamas’ fault. They reject peace with Jews. It’s explicitly clear to anyone paying attention. They’re the only party who could end this war right now but won’t. If you don’t want the health care system to collapse, there is one thing Hamas could do: surrender.
The US does not believe Israel can decisively triumph over Hamas in Gaza, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has said. The comments come as fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Palestinian militant group entered its eighth month last week, with West Jerusalem refusing to walk away from its pledge to destroy Hamas.
“I think in some respects, we are struggling over what the theory of victory is. Sometimes when we listen closely to Israeli leaders, they talked mostly about the idea of some sort of sweeping victory on the battlefield, a total victory,” Campbell said at the NATO Youth Summit in Miami, Florida on Monday. “I don’t think we believe that that is likely or possible,” he said.
He acknowledged the “undeniable tensions” between Washington and West Jerusalem over Israel’s ongoing assault on Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza which is overcrowded with refugees who fled the northern part of the Palestinian enclave in accordance with the Israeli Army’s evacuation instructions.
Michael Cohen offered the strongest evidence to date linking former President Donald Trump to the charges he is facing in New York, serving as either a blessing or a curse to prosecutors, depending on whether the jury finds their troubled star witness credible.
Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, testified Monday during Trump’s trial that the former president knew every step of the way how Cohen was working to prevent porn star Stormy Daniels from going public right before the 2016 election with a claim that she had a sexual encounter with Trump.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Cohen had two phone calls with Trump right before Cohen went to the bank to use a shell company to wire Daniels’s attorney $130,000 as part of a settlement agreement.
“I wanted to ensure that, once again, he approved what I was doing because I require approval from him on all of this,” Cohen said of the two calls.
Michael Cohen testifies on the witness stand in Manhattan criminal court about the calculations that Alan Weisselberg made to determine how to pay back Cohen for the money he paid to Stormy Daniels, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Trump’s former lawyer described in court how the former president demands total sycophancy from his underlings.
Michael Cohen, former president Donald Trump’s former attorney, arrives at his home after leaving Manhattan Criminal Court on May 13, 2024, in New York City.
(Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)
The third week of Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan kicked off with the testimony of a familiar Trumpworld figure: former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen. Cohen’s turn on the stand has been hotly anticipated since the trial got underway last month, since he’s able to directly confirm key details in the prosecution’s case, chiefly concerning the logistics of the payoff to former porn star Stormy Daniels in order to suppress her story of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
President Biden is taking action to protect American jobs from Chinese cheating in markets like steel and semiconductors.
The White House announced via a fact sheet:
Today’s actions to counter China’s unfair trade practices are carefully targeted at strategic sectors—the same sectors where the United States is making historic investments under President Biden to create and sustain good-paying jobs—unlike recent proposals by Congressional Republicans that would threaten jobs and raise costs across the board. The previous administration’s trade deal with China failed to increase American exports or boost American manufacturing as it had promised.
Under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been created and new factory construction has doubled after both fell under the previous administration, and the trade deficit with China is the lowest in a decade—lower than any year under the last administration. We will continue to work with our partners around the world to strengthen cooperation to address shared concerns about China’s unfair practices—rather than undermining our alliances or applying indiscriminate 10 percent tariffs that raise prices on all imports from all countries, regardless whether they are engaged in unfair trade. The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes the benefits for our workers and businesses from strong alliances and a rules-based international trade system based on fair competition.
