Posts on Sunday, May 4, 2025
Donald Trump took to Truth Social Sunday to announce he is “authorizing” the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to impose a 100% tariff on “any and all” movies produced in “foreign lands.”
In a move that sent shockwaves through Hollywood, Trump deemed foreign productions a “national security threat” to the American movie industry, adding that they not only draw filmmakers out to other markets but also bring “messaging and propaganda” into the United States. “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” Trump wrote. “Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States.
Controversy is brewing in Jacksonville, Florida, where a city council member has accused the city’s Democrat mayor of boasting an illegal gun registry.
Councilman Nick Howland, a Republican, recently made the bombshell accusation in an interview with Action News Jax, though the original allegation was reportedly made by a gun rights non-profit known as Florida Carry.[snip]
“They were asked to document their first name, last name, contact information and the type of firearm they were carrying,” Howland said. “In those notebooks for two years, that info has been gathered. Florida is a no-registry state. So, that is a clear violation of state law.”
Biological male swimmer Ana Caldas absolutely dominated in the women’s races at the U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championship in Texas.
The races, which took place last weekend, saw 47-year-old Ana Caldas wipe the floor in the 45-49 category of five races, including the 100-yard individual medley, the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke, and the freestyle.
This quickly sparked outrage on social media, where Libs of TikTok and others remarked on the “insanity” of the situation.
Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said President Donald Trump’s tariffs caused the world to see the United States as an “unreliable partner.”
Host George Stephanopoulos said, “I think you identified the tariffs as the number one issue. Liberation Day is probably the most consequential day of the first 100 days. Is there an exit strategy for Donald Trump on this?
He asked, “Can he make this sort of series of deals that limit the damage?”
Christie said, “Well, it depends on what those deals look like, George. I will tell you, if you look at the reaction of the rest of the world,
The White House shared a Star Wars, May 4th Day image with an immigration message calling those who oppose the president’s policies “radical left lunatics” who are fighting to bring dangerous criminals back into the U.S.
The post also featured a bulked-up image of Trump holding a light saber and surrounded by U.S. flags and eagles.
“Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You’re not the Rebellion—you’re the Empire,” the message states.
It concludes, “May the 4th be with you.”
Actress and former The View co-host, Rosie O’Donnell, who moved to Ireland after the election, claimed President Donald Trump has suffered a serious “cognitive decline” in a rant she posted to TikTok.
In her post to fans, the comedienne who is now resident of Ireland claimed that video of Trump’s recent speeches show he is no longer in command of his mental faculties.
“When are people going to start to realize how much he is in a cognitive decline,” O’Donnell rambled, “how he can’t form coherent thoughts or sentences?”
“He had a speech the other day and he couldn’t say the word ‘anonymous.’
After Democrats accused ICE of raiding the wrong house and terrorizing a U.S. citizen family in Oklahoma, the Department of Homeland Security fired back, beginning their official statement on X with a blunt response: “Wrong.”
What actually happened was that ICE conducted a lawful, court-authorized search targeting a property long tied to a human smuggling network, not specific individuals. Surveillance conducted the day before the raid confirmed that a member of the Lima Lopez Transnational Criminal Organization was still paying utility bills at the home, which remained legally owned by an indicted smuggling suspect. The warrant, based on an 84-page affidavit, authorized the seizure of evidence regardless of who was present.
Actor Sean Penn is the latest Hollywood celebrity to melt down over Donald Trump.
In a podcast appearance with former CNN host Jim Acosta and California Rep. Eric Swalwell, Penn suggested that Trump may “destroy the world” before his presidency is finished.
Here is a transcript of the exchange:
ACOSTA: Bukele needs to be told, like, there are going to be other administrations that are going to come in here that are not going to look too kindly on this. What you’re doing down there.
SWALWELL: Jim, Bukele should be told that, the law firms that are caving should be told that, the colleges that are cave in should be told that.
Bloomberg Columnist Makes Total Fool Out
of Himself Attacking 'Miserable' Seeming
Trump, Vance, Musk replies
of Himself Attacking 'Miserable' Seeming
Trump, Vance, Musk replies
Matthew Yglesias is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. If that doesn't tell you all you need to know about this guy, perhaps this will: He was a co-founder of and former columnist for Vox — which is well beyond "left-leaning" (translation: a left-wing rag.) Even better, he writes a blog on Substack titled "Slow Boring."
So, with the introduction out of the way, let's visit a Saturday X post by Yglesias, which made the name of Yglesias' blog even more ironic.
A TDS-riddled loather of all things President Donald Trump, which obviously includes Vice President JD Vance and de facto DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) and Elon Musk
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) joined Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures" to discuss the efforts of congressional Republicans to pass President Donald Trump's agenda.
It was a wide-ranging discussion, covering the first (and next) 100 days, Democrats' efforts to thwart the successes of the administration — and Republicans — and tariffs. But the key moments, in my view, came when Bartiromo pressed Barrasso on proposed spending cuts in the reconciliation package.
House Republicans have proposed roughly $1.5 trillion in cuts, and the concern is that Senate Republicans won't be able to meet that.
Donald Trump sat down with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday, and as usual, it appears as if the nation’s leftist media gathered together in a smoky back room and all decided on what headlines they would run. How about a little originality, folks?
Here’s a sample of them showing a slavish devotion to the one narrative they’ve decided to focus on:
USA TODAY: Trump says 'I don't know' when asked if he must uphold the Constitution
NBC News: Trump, asked if he has to 'uphold the Constitution,' says, 'I don't know'
$2.00 Gas Here We Come!
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Let’s just get this out of the way: $2.00 gas isn’t a fantasy. It’s not a fairytale. It’s not even a MAGA fever dream. It’s a freight train with Trump at the throttle and a full tank of American energy roaring down the tracks.
Naturally, this week the usual suspects freaked out. President Trump had the audacity to suggest—on social media, no less—that we’re on the verge of $2 gas. Cue the blue-check meltdown: “Disinformation!” “It’s impossible!” “He’s lying!” But here’s the problem with that narrative: he’s not wrong.
Let’s check the scoreboard, shall we?
On May 3, 2025, the national average for a gallon of regular gas was $3.17.
When President Trump returned to the White House, he didn’t just get to work cleaning up Joe Biden’s mess—he set his sights on dismantling decades of entrenched bureaucratic bloat, waste, and corruption. With a relentless series of executive orders and policy directives, Trump reignited his mission to drain the swamp—this time with laser precision and zero patience for the status quo.
Predictably, the left went into full-blown panic mode. Liberal legal groups immediately launched a barrage of lawsuits, cherry-picking friendly courts in a shameless attempt to stall Trump’s agenda. They’re terrified of losing control over the bloated regulatory state
Vice President JD Vance argued Friday that President Trump is the leader of the Democratic Party — and quipped that the thought of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in the Oval Office is terrifying.
“President AOC, the stuff of nightmares,” the vice president told Fox News “Special Report” host Bret Baier, when asked about the possibility of a Vance versus Ocasio-Cortez matchup in the 2028 presidential election.
“You’ve ruined my sleep for the evening,” Vance, 40, added, trying to get the idea of the far-left “Squad” congresswoman being the leader of the free world out of his head.
In recent weeks, Ocasio-Cortez has barnstormed the country, slamming Trump and Republicans,
Democratic political strategist James Carville expressed frustration with the state of his party on his podcast Thursday, arguing that Republicans are able to get away with lying while Democrats are held to a higher standard of credibility.
Talking to guest Ryan Lizza, a journalist, he said, "People say to me all the time, ‘James, why don’t we just do like the Republicans do? Just stand up and lie?’ Because our f*****g people wouldn’t stand for it!" Carville said. "If I stood up and lied, you would be the first person to say, ‘James Carville lost all credibility last night when he said X, Y and Z.’"
An Army Black Hawk helicopter caused two near-misses with airliners at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last week — including passing as little as 200 feet from one jet — after the pilot took “the scenic route” to the Pentagon, according to authorities.
The terrifying incident at one of America’s most crowded airports comes three months after the same kind of Army chopper from the same unit was involved in a mid-air collision with an American Airlines jet, killing 67 people.
Officials and politicians were quick to blast the Army for the incident — with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy calling it “unacceptable.”
Most iPhones and other Apple products bound for the American market will no longer be made in China, Apple CEO Tim Cook said on May 1. The majority of the iPhones heading for the United States in the coming months will be made in India, while Vietnam will be the main production point for products such as iPads and Apple Watches. During a call with investors discussing the tech giant’s second-quarter results, Cook was asked about how the company planned to adapt to the new U.S. tariff regimen, which significantly targets Chinese-manufactured goods.
Mexico has declined President Donald Trump’s offer to deploy U.S. troops in Mexico to help combat drug cartels, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on May 3.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on May 2, based on anonymous sources, that Trump had offered to send U.S. troops to take a leading role in efforts within Mexico to counter the cartels. Sheinbaum was asked to comment on The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on Saturday, as she attended an event near Mexico’s capital.
“You know what I told him? ‘No, President Trump, the territory is inviolable. Sovereignty is inviolable,’” Sheinbaum told the audience.
The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis-area Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s new directive for its prosecutors to consider race when negotiating plea deals with criminal defendants. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Acting Associate Attorney General Chad Mizelle and Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon informed Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in a letter that the Justice Department is opening a probe into whether the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office "engaged in a pattern of practice of depriving persons of rights, privileges or immunities secured or protect by the Constitution or laws of the United States."
As if on cue, a short article from the Chamber of Shipping notes that cargo from China is being rerouted to avoid tariffThe destination of the cargo is, wait for it,… CANADA!
USCoS – As U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods soar to as high as 145%, a growing number of companies are rerouting shipments to Canada and storing them in bonded warehouses in hopes of avoiding the duties and capitalising on a future rollback. This strategy has caused a sharp spike in Chinese shipments to Canada, with logistics firms and customs brokers reporting surging inquiries and storage(snip) could force sellers to offload discounted goods into the Canadian market, potentially disrupting domestic
All students of constitutional law recall the case of Marbury vs. Madison.
In 1803, the Federalists had been successful in expanding central government powers, but in the 1800 election, Thomas Jefferson, a champion of states’ rights, was elected president and controlled both houses of Congress. [Snip] For years, it had been fiercely debated whether the Supreme Court had the “judicial power” under the young Constitution to declare laws enacted by Congress and the president to be “invalid.” Jefferson and the Democrat-Republicans argued that none of the three branches of government had any more say in the matter than the other two.[Snip]
CNN’s Scott Jennings detailed Sunday why Republicans need to “come to grips” with their “new reality” of lower propensity voters ahead of key elections in Florida and Wisconsin.
Key special elections for two House seats in Florida and a seat on the Wisconsin state Supreme Court have Republicans eyeing the chance to gain more ground ahead of the midterm elections. Jennings, on “State of the Union,” highlighted to the panel how Republicans were able to gain new traction among lower propensity voters but must now motivate them to go out and vote despite their past record of not doing so.
Starting Monday, student loan borrowers who find themselves in default will face government-backed involuntary collections, signaling a brand new landscape after years of pauses, delays and Biden-era relief efforts.
Garnished tax returns, Social Security payments and even wages will all be fair game on May 5 after a five-year pause on severe financial consequences that began during the economic upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trump administration has made clear no additional debt forgiveness will be offered to borrowers as congressional Republicans look to revamp the student loan repayment system.
Portugal’s caretaker government plans to expel some 18,000 foreigners living in the country without authorization, a minister said Saturday in the buildup to a national election.
Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro said the center-right government will issue approximately 18,000 notifications to people in the country illegally to leave. The minister said officials will begin next week by asking some 4,500 foreigners to leave voluntarily within 20 days.
Portugal will hold an early general election on May 18. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro called the snap ballot in March after his minority government led by his conservative Social Democratic Party lost a confidence vote in Parliament and stood down.
As President Trump brings manufacturing back to the US — and closes in on trade deals with India, Japan, and South Korea — China’s days as “the world’s factory floor” are numbered. And Beijing is furious.
In a move harking back to the Cultural Revolution, Chinese schoolchildren are again being taught to hate the US. Class time is devoted to shouting anti-American slogans like “China must win the China-US trade war!”
China’s foreign ministry even released a video claiming that China “won’t kneel down” to the US, warning that bowing to US hegemony would be like drinking poison.
When there is a Republican president, the leftist-dominated White House press corps likes to gang up and try to put him on defense.
The ultimate fantasy is repeating the glory days of Watergate by driving the president from office.
That was certainly the aim in Donald Trump’s first term, where the hunt by Democrats with press passes — and the help of a corrupt FBI — was so intense that they produced a near-daily flood of lurid allegations, with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax being the grand climax.
But Trump 2.0 is turning out to be a far different story, though not because the press has decided to be fair in its coverage.
This socialist failed miserably at capitalism.
NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams recently lost a two-family home he owned in Brooklyn to Bank of America after racking up nearly $1 million in debt over 15 years by refusing to pay his mortgage, The Post has learned.
He took the loan on the property to help bankroll a business venture that capsized.
A state judge in January sided with the bank by issuing a “final judgment of foreclosure” on the deadbeat’s property at 1392 E. 98th St. in Canarsie.
Wildlife Services, a program within the United States Department of Agriculture, made headlines recently—and not for a good reason. Federal workers employed by the program recently killed a Mexican gray wolf that was wearing a tracker collar and thought to be pregnant.
Wildlife Services called killing the endangered animal a "mistake." However, this isn’t the first time the program has made such a mistake, and it’s far from the worst thing its employees have done to animals. If the Trump administration wants to save animals and taxpayer dollars (and there is early evidence to suggest he is concerned with both), shutting down Wildlife Services should be a priority.
New Gun Anxiety
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To go armed or not to go armed? That is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows…OK, enough paraphrased Shakespeare. It’s common knowledge more and more Americans, including Democrats, are becoming first time gun owners. Federal background checks have numbered more than a million per month for more than five years. Since each check can encompass more than one gun, and they don’t account for private transactions, we can be sure Americans are buying more than a million guns every month.
There are signs the pace of gun buying is slowing as one might expect with Donald Trump’s reelection. Americans not worried
New York Attorney General Letitia James said Saturday she plans to team up with other lefty AGs nationwide to sue the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services over healthcare funding cuts.
“The White House is threatening our way of life in so many ways, and I just want you to know that in the coming days we will be filing a lawsuit against [HHS],” revealed James at a National Action Network rally in Harlem.
James cited as examples anticipated cuts in federal aid to the Head Start program that helps low-income kids ages five and under prepare for school,
The Trump administration scored a HUGE win on Saturday in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Not only did the court grant the administration's request for a stay pending appeal in several consolidated/related cases, but it set forth the framework that district courts should be adhering to in analyzing many of the cases currently pending before them regarding the administration's actions. Since President Donald Trump resumed office in January and began issuing a series of executive orders and actions aimed at dismantling and/or sizably reducing the size of the bureaucratic state, lawsuit after lawsuit has been filed against the administration in an effort to thwart his agenda.
My Jewish identity isn’t just something I talk about — it’s who I am. It's a part of my family's survival story: surviving the Holocaust, escaping Soviet oppression, and rebuilding a life in America with nothing but determination and faith. My grandparents lived through brutality that many today only read about. Their stories taught me early on that freedom is fragile — and that you have to fight to protect it. Now, as I prepare for college, I see antisemitism rising again in places that are supposed to be centers of learning and acceptance. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 2023 saw over 8,800 antisemitic incidents in the U.S.—
Last week, Michelle Obama offered the most ridiculous excuse for skipping Donald Trump’s inauguration, and let’s just say it didn’t do her any favors. On a podcast few people listen to—the one she does with her brother—she claimed she didn’t attend because she “had nothing to wear.” And the media ate it up as if that explanation made sense, completely ignoring the fact that a former first lady with unlimited resources couldn’t find a dress would be like Donald Trump claiming he doesn’t have enough ties.
Rep. Elise Stefanik believes she’s “in the strongest position to defeat” Gov. Hochul and become the first Republican leader of New York state in nearly 20 years, as she inches closer to a 2026 challenge.
In an exclusive interview with The Post, Stefanik (R-NY) confidently rattled off several “Day 1” priorities for a potential term — tax, education, crime, immigration and energy — before taking a shot at the unpopular liberal governor.
“Unlike Kathy Hochul, who was defeated after one term in Congress, we have a record of winning — not just Republicans but winning independents and a fair percentage of Democrats,” she sniped.
COVID-19 on My Mind
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Like most of us, I suppose, the shock to our system and way of life during the government’s response to COVID-19 cannot easily be forgotten. It was our taste of ill-considered government tyranny, a public-health disaster. As more information about its origins and how the disease was handled is revealed, it always gets my attention. In sum, banking on helping defeat Trump, the public-health establishment and media suppressed more credible options for dealing with a disease which was not life-threatening to most in order to promote a vaccine then in the works. The vaccine when it was developed and administered was not terribly effective and has itself caused substantial injury.
The US has added two countries to its “do not travel” list.
Last month, government officials added North Korea and Burkina Faso to the list of countries Americans are advised against visiting. The State Department has four travel advisory levels: exercise normal precautions, exercise normal precautions, reconsider travel, and do not travel.
The threat level in North Korea and Burkina Faso has been upgraded to Level 4. Travel to North Korea has been discouraged due to “the continuing serious risk of arrest, long-term detention, and the threat of wrongful detention.”
Visiting Burkina Faso has been advised against because of increased “terrorism, crime, and kidnapping.”
Greg Abel, the next CEO of Berkshire Hathaway hand-picked by Warren Buffett, is a Canadian-born near-billionaire who lives a humble life as a regular guy in Des Moines, Iowa, and is a longtime company man.
The 62-year-old, who has worked at Berkshire Hathaway for over 20 years, was named to its board of directors in 2018, and was serving as vice chairman of non-insurance operations before the high profile promotion announcement.
The Edmonton native has particular expertise in business areas such as utilities, railroads, and retail,
As the conservative voice of reason for CNN, Scott Jennings offered some advice during Thursday's episode of "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip," specifically when it comes to the upcoming 2026 midterms, and what he even advises viewers to "sear... into your brain" ahead of them That would be taxes, especially given the misinformation from Democrats, including liberal guests on the panel, as well as the discussion of the hot button issue of tariffs and what Congress' plans are. Not only did Jennings remind that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his team "are currently negotiating dozens of trade deals with the 17 to 20 countries that actually matter,"
11K Employees at USDA Join 4K
Others Who Are Taking Trump up on His
Deferred Resignation Offer replies
Others Who Are Taking Trump up on His
Deferred Resignation Offer replies
The Department of Agricutlure (USDA) will look a little more lean and mean later in 2025 after thousands of its employees have taken President Trump up on an offer to join the government's deferred resignation program, something that a spokesman for the agency confirmed in an email to Politico on Saturday. What these "deferred resignations" mean is the employees told the USDA that they would begin an immediate voluntary leave, with the understanding that their position will be severed later in 2025. It's clearer when looking at a X missive from someone who said they're among those in that cohort:
You just cannot make some things up, and this just happens to be one of those stories.
Back in 2021, X and Tesla owner Elon Musk expressed his hope that Starbase, the home of the facility where his SpaceX shoots off rockets into Texas skies, would become its own city.
Now, it appears that's exactly what's about to happen, after an election on incorporation was held in Cameron County, Texas, on Saturday: The city at the southern tip of Texas near the Mexico border is only about 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometers), crisscrossed by a few roads and dappled with airstream trailers and modest midcentury homes.
While the populist consensus is that MAGA is killing off diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in corporate America, that may not always be the case in some of the nation’s biggest companies.
According to one report, shareholders of some leading companies, including Costco, Apple, Levi’s, John Deere, Goldman Sachs, and others, have voted against proposals targeting DEI programs.
Those proposals included asking companies to ditch their DEI policies and examine the legal risks of pursuing them. Two conservative think tanks, the National Center for Public Policy Research and the National Legal and Policy Center, are reportedly behind most of the DEI-killing measures.
Former L.A. County Sheriff Ditches Democrat
Party: ‘Joining the Party of Faith,
Family, and Freedom’ replies
Party: ‘Joining the Party of Faith,
Family, and Freedom’ replies
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva revealed that he was leaving the Democrat Party, after being a registered Democrat for more than 40 years, and joining the Republican Party.
“As of today, I’m leaving the party of paid protests, purple hair, and pronouns, and joining the party of faith, family, and freedom,” Villanueva said in a video posted to X.
Breitbart News previously reported that Villanueva, a former Democrat who was elected to serve as the sheriff of Los Angeles County in 2018, lost his re-election campaign in November 2022 to Robert Luna, the former police chief of Long Beach.
Sometimes, Trump is just playin' around.
And when he does, the left has a cow -- and then he kicks back and enjoys it.
You'd think they'd know enough not to take the bait by now ... but they don't.
So now we have this: ... which is pretty funny.
It was obviously keying off pope portraits from centuries past, such as Diego Velazquez's Pope Innocent X, circa 1650: Or Jacques-Louis David's Pope Pius VII, from 1805: It also reminds me of what his ally, President Nayyib Bukele once did, posting a pic of himself dressed in some grand and heroic costume around the time when he was trolling as