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(The Center Square) - Vice President JD Vance defended a nearly $1.8 billion taxpayer fund through the U.S. Department of Justice aimed at supporting victims of "lawfare and weaponization."
The $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" would support individuals who have been targeted by "lawfare and weaponization," according to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. The fund came out of the settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit between President Donald Trump and the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns.
Vance said Republicans and Democrats could receive some of the funds while the DOJ vets applications for assistance.
Fidel Castro's younger yet equally communist brother may well find himself in hot water with the American federal justice system. Late on Tuesday, reports surfaced that the Trump administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking an indictment of Raúl Castro. The specifics aren't yet known, but any charges are expected to arise from the 1996 shooting down of two aircraft belonging to the Miami-based Cuban exile group, Brothers to the Rescue. Raúl Castro was Cuba's Minister of Defense at that time.
HUD proposal to end women's shelter admission
based on gender identity sparks male violence debate replies
based on gender identity sparks male violence debate replies
Do men who identify as women really threaten women fleeing male violence?
That's the raging debate in a regulatory proceeding on "equal access to housing," prompted by President Trump's Day One executive order against "gender ideology extremism," which has quietly amassed over 600 public comments in its first three weeks without any apparent input as of Tuesday from large national groups.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed removing references to "gender" and "gender identity" throughout its regulations, and possibly replacing them with "sex," to ensure HUD-funded housing programs and emergency shelters treat individuals by their "immutable biological classification as either male or female."
Zohran Mamdani’s “apology tour” to quell the business community’s outrage over his bizarre social media posting targeting fellow business leader Ken Griffin didn’t include much apologizing, The Post has learned.
In fact, Griffin’s name and Mamdani’s “creepy” stunt — where he stood outside the Citadel chief’s penthouse to brag about taxing the rich — never came up in the confabs Monday with two of the biggest CEOs on Mamdani’s agenda, Jamie Dimon, the chief of mega bank JP Morgan and David Solomon, the CEO of investment banking giant Goldman Sachs.
Don’t blame our Marxist mayor for ignoring the obvious —
Michael Goodwin: Trump’s steadfast approach
to ‘no nukes’ for Iran shows his unwavering resolve replies
to ‘no nukes’ for Iran shows his unwavering resolve replies
The Democratic left’s favorite caricature of President Trump describes him as recklessly impulsive, wildly inconsistent and addicted to shooting from the hip.
The image is powerful boob bait for the uninformed, but it is demonstrably false when it comes to matters of great importance. Exhibit A is Trump’s consistent and decade-long patient policies toward Iran. For years he has been saying the mullahs would never be allowed to get nuclear weapons on his watch.
It was a major theme of his first campaign and first term.
He proved he was serious in 2018 when he withdrew the United States from President Barack Obama’s sketchy pact,
A 28-year-old New Yorker ditched the five boroughs for a booming Texas suburb — and says he’s “never” moving back as a flood of workers and companies head south in search of cheaper living and better opportunities.
Akash Khanna, a commercial real estate agent, relocated to Frisco, Texas shortly after the pandemic — a move he made after years of bouncing between Jersey City, Wall Street, Brooklyn and Queens.
“I never think about moving back there, ever,” Khanna said, describing New York as a “high-paced” metropolis that no longer fit his long-term goals.
Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson spoke at the American Law Institute and warned that the Supreme Court risks looking political after its handling of the Louisiana redistricting case under the Voting Rights Act.
KBJ argued the court must guard its public image, especially in election cases, because, as the AP reported, Americans expect judges to stand apart from partisan fights. That's a fair-sounding statement; nobody wants the highest court in America to look like a cable news panel wearing matching robes.
Unfortunately, despite a fair-sounding message, the problem comes from the messenger. Jackson has become the court's loudest progressive voice, and subtlety doesn't appear to be her preferred instrument.
Given the enormity of the problem, the authors of the report had to limit their focus to "seven EU countries where no-go zones are most reported: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, and the Netherlands."
No-go zones, according to the report, are especially characterized by high rates of crime, violence and terrorist recruitment.
"This institutional reluctance, driven by political correctness, allowed gangs to operate with impunity in NGZs, where cultural segregation and weak policing created fertile ground for such crimes, effectively rendering the state an accomplice through its failure to protect victims." – From "Immigration, Islamisation, and the Rise of Parallel Societies," a report by New Direction – Foundation for European Conservatism.
Jeff Bezos blasted Mayor Zohran Mamdani for casting billionaire Ken Griffin as a “villian” in a bizarre video Hizzoner filmed outside his Manhattan apartment announcing a new pied-à-terre tax last month.
The Amazon honcho ripped the 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor for demonizing Griffin and filming outside the Citadel head’s home in the viral video.
“Ken Griffin isn’t a villain,” Bezos told CNBC during a Wednesday sit-down. “He hasn’t hurt anybody. He’s not hurting New York. In fact, quite the opposite. And so that piece of it isn’t right. And there was no reason to do that.”
The billionaire, however,
Former 16-term Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank died of congestive heart failure Tuesday at the age of 86.
First elected to the House in 1980, Frank is known for being the co-author of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) as well as being the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay. Just over two weeks before his passing, he appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash” while receiving hospice care at his Maine home — where he warned that his lifelong party was lurching too far leftward.
Last night was not just your typical primary night. It was a warning shot.Trump-backed candidates racked up major wins all over the country.
Meanwhile, RINOs, anti-Trumpers, and old-guard GOPers either lost or found themselves looking a whole lot weaker. Thomas Massie lost in Kentucky after repeatedly breaking with Trump on major issues. RINO Bill Cassidy lost his primary after years of battles with MAGA voters… the list goes on. Trump-endorsed candidates all over the country had big nights.
Speaking of Cassidy, he’s now planning his lame-duck “revenge tour.”
NEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — George Soros ’ Open Society Foundations pledged $300 million Wednesday toward initiatives it says will defend democratic rights and advance economic security in the U.S. over the next five years.
The new strategy comes even as President Donald Trump's administration has singled out the Soros family, accusing them of supporting violence and fostering division. Those attacks are part of a broad effort rolled out in 2025 by Trump and his allies to influence nonprofits and charitable funders through executive orders, by withholding funding or by threatening investigations.
“We are continuing our work unabated. We will not be intimidated into silence,"
Under the U.S. Constitution, anyone who is not a "natural-born citizen" is barred from becoming president or vice president. Now, a House Republican wants to expand that requirement to much of the federal government.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., plans to introduce a joint resolution Wednesday proposing a constitutional amendment requiring members of Congress, federal judges and other Senate-confirmed appointees to be natural-born citizens.
The proposal would affect more than a dozen naturalized citizens currently serving in Congress, including several Republicans. Mace, who is running to be South Carolina’s next governor, suggested that the country’s nearly 25 million naturalized citizens, who made the deliberate choice to become Americans, may have divided loyalties.
The Democrats have spent the past couple of weeks pearl-clutching over the voting rights of Black Americans, falsely claiming the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the Voting Rights Act, along with Republican redistricting in states like Tennessee, will disenfranchise certain voting blocs. That's not true, of course. But Democrats aren't really worried about representation or the will of the people, anyway. They're livid that they have to compete for voters outside of racially gerrymandered districts and run on ideas instead of identity politics.
And for one [b;ack] woman in Chicago, this was just too much. She absolutely blasted Democrats who are melting down over voting rights.
Why I'm Never Rubio
replies
The Atlantic magazine recently announced the People’s Choice for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. “Trump Voters Like Marco Rubio More and More (And J.D. Vance Less and Less)” the headline proclaimed, a ruling that deserves respect considering that this is the magazine that has spent the past decade ferociously denouncing Trump as a “racist,” “fascist kleptocrat,” “warped,” “corrupted,” an “authoritarian,” a “demagogue,” a “xenophobe” and a “liar.”
There has been a huge shift within the public and private sectors on climate change as it has dawned on governments and companies that the United States, under President Donald Trump, will no longer be a patsy to a cabal of international elites who seek to impose costly climate restrictions upon American businesses and international climate boondoggles upon nations.
Trump’s actions are draining the climate swamp of resources, supporters, spirit, and momentum. These include defunding climate boondoggles across federal agencies, pulling the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, withdrawing the United States from dozens of climate-monitoring and wealth-transfer organizations (most importantly the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change),
Ode To A Beagle Named Rocky
replies
We normally don’t use this space for personal announcements. That isn’t the purpose or mission of Issues & Insights. But, since we answer to no one but ourselves, we can break our own rules.
On Saturday, our family lost our 12-year-old Beagle, Rocky, to cancer. We didn’t even know he had cancer until a week before.
After a recent move, we’d taken Rocky to a new vet for a wellness check and mentioned that his eating habits had recently changed. Instead of his normal voracious appetite – so voracious that we had to buy a dish designed to slow down eating
The cost of higher education has become a major issue for many, if not most, American parents and even grandparents. As education costs explode, so has the amount of debt students have to pay off after they graduate. This month’s I&I/TIPP Poll asks: Is it worth the cost? And what role should government play?
The national online I&I/TIPP Poll, taken by 1,464 adults from April 28 to May 1 , asked voters four education-finance related questions. The poll has a margin of error of +/-2.9 percentage points.
The first question: “Do you believe the federal government should provide student loans and financial aid to college programs where
Trump admin seeks improvements across
spectrum, expanding masters education
and trade jobs access replies
spectrum, expanding masters education
and trade jobs access replies
President Donald Trump's Department of Education is approaching skill and education access at two different levels, the post-graduate level and in the critical skilled trades, according to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
On Monday, McMahon spotlighted a critical U.S. workforce challenge: for every five skilled trades workers retiring, only about two are entering the field. Without intervention, the nation could face a shortfall of roughly 2.1 million jobs by 2030.Under McMahon's leadership and the direction of President Donald Trump, the newly implemented Workforce Pell Grant program is a direct response, aiming to train Americans quickly for high-demand, high-wage careers.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger failed Tuesday night to clinch enough votes for one of the two spots in the runoff for the Republican primary for Georgia governor, losing to Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and health care executive Rick Jackson.
Raffensperger secured just 14% of the vote, according to the Associated Press, compared to Jones' 37% and Jackson's 34%. Jones is considered the favorite to win the nomination after President Donald Trump endorsed his campaign.
Another closely watched race in Georgia is its Senate race, where Republicans are hoping to defeat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) was among the four Republican Senators who voted in favor of moving forward with a resolution that would direct President Donald Trump to pull the U.S. military out of the conflict with Iran.
Cassidy’s vote in favor of moving forward with the Iran War Powers Resolution comes days after he lost his reelection bid to Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming.
The Senate voted 50-47 to move the War Powers Resolution out from the Senate’s Foreign Relation Committee, with Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Cassidy voting with the Democrats, CBS News reported.
Poland’s defense minister said no decisions have been made to reduce the number of American troops in the country and recent US moves may only temporarily delay their deployment, after meeting US Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Christopher Mahoney.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Tuesday a US troop deployment to Poland had been delayed, but that it was not accurate to say the troops were being withdrawn from Europe.
Poland was earlier alarmed by reports the Pentagon had canceled plans to deploy 4,000 US troops in the country. Officials tried to reassure Poles that this was not the case.
Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Beijing on Tuesday for a meeting with dictator Xi Jinping in a clear demonstration by both sides that their “no-limits partnership” remains intact after President Donald Trump’s trip to Beijing just a few days earlier.
Putin enjoyed a nearly identical reception to Trump’s as he disembarked from his plane, right down to the student cheerleading squad waving flags and chanting welcome messages, which helped to thematically position Putin’s visit as a response to Trump’sThe similarity between the two receptions also helped China polish its image as the go-to destination for global leaders.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy turned the tables on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) after she tried to ambush him over his family’s America250 road trip during a tense Senate hearing Tuesday.Duffy took a cross-country trip with his family, celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary. The journey was filmed for an upcoming reality TV-style series. It should be noted that "The Great American Road Trip" involved no taxpayer dollars for the Duffy family and was paid for by a nonprofit.
Still, some Democrats didn't like the idea. Because if there's anything they hate, it's a show celebrating America.
“It doesn’t smell right,” Gillibrand confronted, perhaps a more appropriate description of her congressional career.