May 10, 2026

Blog

By STAFF

This digest covers political, world, cultural, market, and sci-tech news from May 6-7, 2026.

This digest contains the Global Outlook, Headlines Missed, and People Advance Report.

TOP NEWS TAGS

  1. 2026 Elections
  2. Gerrymandering Wars
  3. Iran War
  4. Trump Deportations
  5. AI Markets

GLOBAL OUTLOOK

  1. WALL STREET IGNORES IRAN’S UNCERTAINTYWhile the signals from Iran continue to be conflicting and often changing from one moment to the next, the U.S. stock market seems to have adapted to this uncertainty.

The Strait of Hormuz remains unopened, mostly, and the President does not seem hard-pressed to settle on a ceasefire or resume “offensive” actions.

  1. BOND FOR ILLEGALS SAYS APPEALS COURTThe 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 most illegals should get bond releases while awaiting deportation hearings.
  2. PROGRESSIVE HOUSE MEMBER CONFESSESRepresentative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) publicly confessed to working with foreign governments to undermine U.S. policy in Cuba.

She declared, “I was in conversations with the ambassadors from Mexico and some other places, other countries in Latin America trying to figure out how to get oil there. I’ve called these sanctions an economic bombing of the infrastructure of Cuba.”

HEADLINES MISSED

  1. KIM DROPS UNITYNorth Korea is no longer seeking unity with South Korea. It was once a part of their constitution, but now that article has been dropped.
  2. SUPERCARRIER OCTOBER – There is a growing realization by many that the U.S. Supercarrier is no longer the decisive military advantage it once was. Now, more analysts are coming down on the side that claims the supercarrier’s days are gone or soon will be.
  3. SCIENTISTS FIND ANOTHER DNA LAW BREAKERScientists have discovered an example in nature of genetic exchange of information through DNA that defies their understanding. A microscopic organism’s genetics was able to reassign gene-stopping signals to amino acids, a feat not imagined possible for life before this observation.

PEOPLE ADVANCE

  1. 2020 ELECTION FRAUD EVIDENCE STAYS – A motion by Fulton County election officials to have the 2020 ballots seized by the FBI returned has been denied by a Federal Judge, meaning the case will go on.
  2. VIRGINIA’S GERRYMANDER CHAMPION RAIDED BY FBIThe woman behind the Virginia special election to effectively eliminate 4 GOP U.S. House seats is now under FBI investigation. Virginia’s State Senator L. Louise Lucas saw her offices raided, along with other businesses connected to her.

So far, only anonymous sources are cited as claiming this is connected to a corruption investigation directly linked to her. She is considered the main driver of the Virginia gerrymander election plan that is currently under legal scrutiny.

Stories We Are Watching:

On Our Radar:

While the signals from Iran continue to be conflicting and often changing from one moment to the next, the U.S. stock market seems to have adapted to this uncertainty.

The Strait of Hormuz remains unopened, mostly, and the President does not seem hard-pressed to settle on a ceasefire or resume “offensive” actions.

There continues to be troubling signs for the world economy should the Strait of Hormuz continue to remain unopened, especially for Europe, but so far, the U.S. has yet to feel the pinch, save for at the gas pump.

Iran War Live Updates: Tehran and U.S. Offer Conflicting Messages on State of Negotiations www.nytimes.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
President Trump said his administration had had “very good talks” with Tehran in the last 24 hours. An Iranian official said an American plan to end the war was under review. Israel struck targets near Beirut.

A motion by Fulton County election officials to have the 2020 ballots seized by the FBI returned has been denied by a Federal Judge, meaning the case will go on.

Judge denies request to return 2020 ballots seized from Fulton County, Georgia – The Washington Post
News Source

Excerpt:

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a request to order the return of more than 600 boxes of voting material seized earlier this year by the FBI amid an investigation involving a Georgia county at the heart of President Donald Trump’s grievances about his 2020 election loss.

Originally published May 1, 2026 for our monthly Issue of Mindful Intelligence Advisor.  Subscribe to get weekly issues.

RISE OF THE PROGRESSIVE NATION

In our March 27, 2026, MIA Quarterly, Paul Gordon Collier did a bellwether deepdive on the rise of the progressive nation from within the American nation.

In that analysis, Collier concluded, “We believe the GOP is no longer a viable alternative to the progressive nation, as it mostly exists within it. If we could compel Americans to act, we would encourage them to explore what American rule of law is for themselves and with their family, friends, and neighbors.

Identify Americans in your community and fellowship primarily with them.

We need conversations, public ones, that invite an exploration of American Rule of Law, of what makes us American, so we know what we are fighting for and what we are fighting against.

From this, we need American parties to emerge that are pledged to not offer policies that violate our American Rule of Law standards. That standard is to have state power bounded by the self-stewardship agency power of its citizens.

Most likely, there will be a left party that favors the weak over the strong and a right party that favors merit over social hierarchies. Yet BOTH will offer no threat to the individual’s capacity to be a self-stewarded individual.”

One step that could be taken is organizing meetups, physical and virtual meetups, with people in your community (real or virtual) to have conversations, presentations on American rule of law and how Americans might organize OUTSIDE of the GOP and DNC institutions altogether.

If you feel so inclined and equipped, here are some resources to help you learn how to create such events, virtually and in real life.

  1. How to Host Community Events – VIPTOGO
  2. How to Create an Event on Facebook: Public or Private – Wikkihow.com
  3. How to Organize a Convention: Step-By-Step Checklist Guide – Crowdultra.com
  4. The Essential Conference Planning Checklist – Eventbrite
  5. THE STATE OF THE AI STATE

In the April 17, 2026, issue of MIA, Paul Gordon Collier and Staff did a Deep Dive Report on the current state of rising AI States. In the Deep Dive, they wrote, “AI is here, and it will touch every part of your life. Whatever you do, if it involves repetition or thinking, AI will be replacing you or aiding you.

As we have said in our earlier AI report for our Futureq series, becoming adept at using AI as a tool to augment whatever you do to make a living, or whatever you hope to do to make a living, is not only advantageous, but it’s also essential. Your competition is already using these tools, and the best ones are the most adept at getting the tools to effectively do what they want them to do.”

While we will be working to keep you up to date on the emerging AI state, we always recommend you rely on multiple sources to steward your understanding of the world (more on this later).

Here are some top AI News websites, all of which have some degree of capture by corporate and/or state authority, but all of which are still useful for learning what’s really going on in AI development.

We ourselves monitor these sites.

We will start our list with our own website:

  1. Mindful Intelligence – AI Watch News Tag
  2. MIT Technology Review – AI Topic
  3. The Rundown AI – Main Site
  4. Wired – Artificial Intelligence Tag
  5. Venture Beat – AI Category
  6. Stanford HAI – News

HOW IRAN KILLED NATO

In our April 24, 2026, issue of MIA, our Military Affairs Correspondent, Michael Cessna, wrote a Deep Dive on the current state of the Iran War. In that Deep Dive, Cessna noted: “Even if Donald Trump commits political suicide by ending Operation Epic Fury prematurely, and unilaterally withdrawing U.S. combat forces from the Persian Gulf Theater, the regime in Tehran has been fatally compromised by combat operations to date.

“They have lost too many experienced leaders – those capable of holding down the tensions and rivalries between the various factions of their state – too many physical assets, as their air force, in addition to their navy, is now functionally non-existent.

“Even their oil production capacity has been so badly damaged, it is effectively a non-entity in contributing to Iranian state revenues…and that’s before addressing the looming water crisis.

Where Iran had been the major proxy supporter of terror groups throughout the Middle East, they can no longer do so: their internal currency is worthless, and with the current loss of oil revenue, they have no meaningful way to pay for their mercenaries imported from Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq.”

After all the Iranian people withstood, after the military has been essentially wiped out, the regime is still standing because they still have small-arms power while their citizens remain unarmed.

Learning how to make your own guns, for personal use, and following all local, state, and federal laws, could be a great way for you to enjoy the still-existent right to bear arms most Americans continue to enjoy, a right that the Iranian people sure wish they had.

If they had arms in the first place there would be no need for U.S. and Israeli air strikes to topple the regime. If they had arms in the first place, most of the draconian laws would not been proposed, let alone been enforced.

Learning how to make guns in an emergency, to get to other guns, within the boundaries of all local, state, and federal laws, might be a more practical, and easier-to-learn skill you will hopefully never has to use. It is also a great way to introduce yourself to full home gunsmithing.

  1. RESOURCES FOR MAKING GUNS:
  1. RESOURCES FOR MAKING EMERGENCY GUNS:
  1. TRUMP’S DINNER THEATER

This month’s Deep Dive Report is on progressive violence as seen through the bellwether event, the White House Correspondents Dinner Shooting.

Our staff noted, “The President has chosen to call for the firing of Jimmy Kimmel over his “expecting widow” comments, while Trump’s FCC now moves to challenge ABC affiliate broadcast licenses. The move is clumsy and the justification for it is not clear, especially when it doesn’t target the whole broadcast industry.

IF ABC has violated broadcasting licensing standards, so has the rest of the industry.

In U.S. law, the standard is not what we know but what we can prove. We know Kimmel’s statement was intentionally broad enough that you can assume he’s inciting violence against the President but proving that in a court of law would be, well, extremely challenging.

The FCC move in and of itself would be great if it had already happened, and if it happened for every major broadcast corporation AFTER a study ACTUALLY showed violations of broadcast licensing had been occurring systematically for decades.

We think a serious study would most likely reveal this decades-long systemic pattern of violations to be true, but it would also expose both the GOP and DNC’s involvement in perpetuating this unofficial alliance between the government and corporate media, or rather, between political parties and corporate media.

This soft power appears to be a tool the President doesn’t want to completely forfeit, even if it means not vanquishing one of the two hearts of progressive power, the progressive corporate media control of socio-cultural production, signaling, and gatekeeping.

What this means is the average news reader will continue to find it difficult to understand the reality of power with a news industry filled with battling narrative war machines, the political party press.

Our site, mindfulintelligence.news, is not a comprehensive news aggregate site, but rather it is a bellwether aggregate and news analysis site. We have an American bias in our aggregation selection process, but that American bias compels us to give you samples of both major factions, the conservatives and republicans, in our aggregation.

It goes without saying we recommend our own site to get a sense of competing narratives that allow you to discern for yourself for your own self-stewarded understanding of the reality of power.

Here are a few pure news aggregators that focus on capturing more of the totality of major news coverage on a given day:

  1. AllSides
  2. Ground News
  3. Memorandum
  4. SmartNews

 

Originally published May 1, 2026 for our monthly Issue of Mindful Intelligence Advisor.  Subscribe to get weekly issues.

Dates: 26-04-01 to 26-04-30

By STAFF

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

April 2026 was dominated by the Iran War and the continued breakneck development of AI and the institutions now forming around the technology.

The world continues to adjust itself to rapidly shifting dynamics of both AI’s development and the culmination of a century-plus “debate” between local national sovereignties and a global governance model, a debate muddled by the question of the role of ethnicity in that dynamic.

In the U.S., two competing nations, Conservative US and Progressive US, are becoming clearer to see, while America is still harder to see among the two and between them.

There have been no sudden downturns or upturns in the economy, which is still largely responding to the Iran War and AI development.

U.S. POLITICS

BACKGROUND:

1.1. 2026 ELECTIONSA lot of major shifts in the GOP’s midterm prospects occurred this month, ending with the most recent, the SCOTUS ruling overthrowing race-based gerrymandering. It began with a major loss for the GOP, a Virginia referendum that promises to eliminate 4 GOP seats in the U.S. House. That election has yet to be certified, and there are serious doubts it will ever be certified.

President Trump’s executive order attempting to eliminate mass mailer elections may be more show than substance, though Red States have been moving to end mass mailer elections, as well as require Photo ID to vote.

While the Democrats were still celebrating their Virginia win, the GOP managed to hold the Marjorie Taylor Greene seat. Finally, SCOTUS delivered another victory for the GOP by approving a Texas redistricting map that eliminates 4 Democrat seats in the House.

1.2. CONSERVATIVE USTwo recent actions connected to FISA highlight the difference between Conservative US and America. The first action saw efforts by some members within the GOP to kill the Biden Vehicle Kill Switch mandate defeated by the top leadership of the GOP.

The second action saw the FISA courts challenging the use of a search spy tool by the government, only to see the Trump administration appeal their decision.

In previous reports, we’ve described this land as being occupied by three nations, Progressive US, Conservative US, and America. Within Conservative US and Progressive US there are still Americans who have not quite figured that out yet.

Here, with FISA, we see how conservatives consistently side with Law and Order over Dangerous Liberty when it comes to national security threats.

1.2. PROGRESSIVE FUNDINGWhile we at MIA are skeptical about the efficacy of the charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center by the DOJ, we have little doubt the organization is part of a network of progressive operations intended to use fear of the white devil to raise money and gain real market power.

Charges against the SPLC have at least gotten conservatives to look closer at the methodologies deployed by progressives to infiltrate institutions and win billions in contributions from the targeted corporations.

Unions are a part of that network, especially public-school teachers’ unions, which have become powerhouses in terms of boots on the ground action (from the teachers and their coopted children) and capital.

At least $1 billion in the last 10 years, that we know of, have been contributed by teachers’ unions to progressive organizations, including protest organizations.

1.3. TRUMP DEPORTATIONSOn the last day of the month, the U.S. House passed funding of the DHS, essentially ending the shutdown and allowing more robust deportation operations to pick back up (but nowhere near the peak levels of the first few months). This comes as over 1,000 TSA officers have quit during the DHS shutdown.

A 9th circuit panel restored ICE’s right to use non-violent force to clear crowds before they turn violent, but by only a 2-1 vote. The majority offered an excoriating rebuttal of the District Judge.

An Appeals Court panel ruling struck down the Trump administration’s assertion it can hold immigrants indefinitely without bond hearings. The ruling was unanimous, and it included a Trump appointed Judge.

The panel wrote, “The government’s interpretation…would send a seismic shock through our immigration detention system and society, straining our already overcrowded detention infrastructure, incarcerating millions, separating families, and disrupting communities.”

The idea of holding an individual, even a non-citizen, indefinitely, without any attempt at a resolution of their case, seems on its face unconstitutional, and a dangerous precedent to want to set. This is another example of Conservative US, not America, in action.

Progressive states continue to pass legislation designed to punish ICE agents and protect illegal aliens. Tom Steyer, the Democrat’s Gubernatorial front runner in the California jungle primary, is promising to lock ICE officers up. California is also working to pass a law that would pay for legal fees for illegal aliens.

1.4. THE FIRST CASUALTIES? – Two high-profile Democrats have faced significant consequences, with one, James Comey, facing charges related to allegedly threating the President online, and the other, Eric Swalwell, losing his political career.

Comey’s charges seem hard to prove, even if we all understand the intent behind the message, “86 47” in the season of political violence we find ourselves in. If Comey is intended to appease the people without satisfying the people, the appeasement won’t work. Conservatives want convictions and prison cells with progressives locked in them.

Seeing Swalwell be abandoned so quickly by his party for accusations of sexual abuse that remain to be clearly proven suggests he was becoming a liability for far more reasons than the sexual abuse charges.

This is the man who had a Chinese Communist Party spy girlfriend. He is now out of the California Governor’s Race (where he was once a frontrunner) and out of congress altogether.

ASSESSMENT – The 2026 Election is looking more and more like an election no one wants to win, though surely, they do. While conservatives aren’t talking about the Epstein files with regularity, it’s not often far away from the conservation.

The growing skepticism with the Iran war, along with the still unresolved Epstein Files controversy is causing the GOP and Trump to lose support.

The courts have delivered some big wins for the GOP that have unleased a ripple effect which is sure to be the lead political story over the coming weeks and months. Progressive and conservative states are now scrambling to react to those rulings, especially the SCOTUS ruling ending race-based gerrymandering.

Progressives appear to have committed to the narrative that they can’t be the violent ones if they are using violence to stop violent people. They are escaping accusations they are responsible for the political violence by claiming their targets deserve it. Watch to see if Progressives start to use a new term to define their nation, a term that distinguishes them from America.

GEOPOLITICS

BACKGROUND – A quiet announcement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the U.S. might reduce its military presence by 80% in Europe sets the backdrop for the geopolitical bellwethers we have identified for April 2026.

1.1. CHINA China has been pushing a narrative many nations, especially in the West, want to hear, the U.S. World Order is crumbling and the world needs a new order. China is positioning itself to be the alternative to the U.S.

The fecklessness of its military hardware as used by Iran against U.S. forces might have an effect China has yet to see. For now, China is still seemingly making inroads into Europe through nations like Croatia. It is also competing healthily for influence in Africa in ways that are interfering with U.S. policy.

At home it faces fear of mass riots, a fear it is hoping to assuage with AI-led robot and drone riot control armies.

Iran has had a significant impact on its economy, and it continues to do so, yet the progressive media at home paints China as the winner in the Iran War so far.

1.2. IRAN WARAn increasing number of nations are either coming out against the U.S. war with Iran, or claiming the U.S. is failing. Germany and the UK are two nations that have joined that list. The narrative that the dominance of the U.S. military is now over is proliferating in progressive corporate news not just domestically, but internationally as well.

The administration reaching out to car manufacturers for weapons manufacturing help has only strengthened the failing U.S. effort narrative.

The Russians, for the first time, perhaps emboldened by the corporate news narrative, are now staking their public reputation on protecting Iran from another massive U.S. assault. The Chinese have not joined them in that boldness, so far

With Iran’s Supreme Leader recently making comments that the U.S. is about to be destroyed in the Strait, Trump seems satisfied to mostly stay pat, for now, despite dipping approval numbers overall and on the war.

1.3. UKRAINE WARAfter a terrorist attack in Kyiv, President Zelensky of Ukraine has ordered personnel purges at the Ministry of International Affairs. The attacker opened fire on civilians in a supermarket, killing 8 and injuring 13 others. No one in the supermarket was allowed to carry a gun legally. There is talk of softening gun laws so terrorists can’t simply target unarmed populations.

Right before he lost his re-election bid, Prime Minister Orban of Hungary accused the Ukrainians of being essentially a money-laundering scheme for progressives in America. The Ukrainians would get the war funding and a certain amount would be siphoned off and sent back to the states to fund progressive organizations, including protest organizations.

1.4. UKWhile Kier Starmer Watch has started, the Prime Minister of Britian has not yet resigned or hinted at resigning after it has been made clear he protected associates of Jeffrey Epstein that later became leading members of his government.

Yet even as he faces this pressure, he is yet attempting to maneuver to push Britain back into the EU without having a vote on it.

Their King came over to America and made a political speech challenging most of Trump’s important policies, including his deportation policy, his anti-DEI policies, and his war in Iran.

After another terrorist attack by an Islamist, this time targeting Jews, Restore Britian is becoming an increasing threat to the Conservative and Labour world order. Restore Britian is to America what no political party is to America today, a party that truly represents the nation from which multiple nations have sprung.

In Britian, there are the progressives of Britian, Labour, though the Greens are increasingly becoming the mantle-holders of that movement. There are the conservatives, who, like the conservatives in America, have a lot more Britishers within them than the progressives do, but they’re not quite truly “British” either.

They don’t stand for the same standards as the country that bore them.

Like the progressives of America, the progressives of the UK are very much anti-British in whole and in part, and like the progressives of America, they use the white devil trope as the primary means of creating moral-supremacist political power (backed up first by progressive corporations, including the media, and now by the government itself).

The fruit of progressivism in the UK is seeing shoplifting across the country hit record highs and the country’s birth rate going negative, meaning there are more deaths than births each year.

ASSESSMENT – The UK is becoming the bellwether of the progressive agenda, having aggressively pursued it more than any other western nation, including Canada (which is not far behind). Now, that ideology is coming to a head as its allies, namely the Islamists, appear ready to claim power under their own banners.

The response is the formation of a national party with a national interest serving specific indigenous ethnicities.

Nations of the world that have embraced progressivism, especially European ones, should be studying the results to come in the UK over the next two years. How the UK goes will largely indicate how Europe’s progressive nations go.

Does nationalism win without becoming fascistic or authoritarian in general? Do the Islamists remain the last faction standing? Or does the UK balkanize or descent into civil war?

Here, the battleground is largely built on the old-world order. In Iran, that war is increasingly becoming one that is both built on the new world order and creating it. On that front, the U.S. appears to have needed a pause, and the world has figured that out, which has emboldened its critics.

This strengthens China’s foreign presence as they look like an increasingly attractive alternative.

As we have said in a previous Sitrep, nations that cannot build impressive AI machines of their own must be useful to those that can. Germany is the only Western European country well-suited for AI machine development, though they are years away from reaching that potential.

CULTURE

BACKGROUND:

1.1. ABORTIONThere have been a few victories this month for the pro-life camp and setbacks, but the biggest victory comes from the news that undercover reporters who exposed Planned Parenthood for selling deceased fetuses will no longer face charges which have loomed over them for years.

1.2. EUTHANASIAAfter a U.S. citizen was euthanized by Spanish authorities, President Trump has questions. The person had been gang raped and soon after sought euthanasia. Signs she was second-guessing were ignored.

Euthanasia is spreading worldwide and gaining ground even here in the U.S. Wherever it is legalized, the fight to expand those eligible for suicide starts, and the expanders usually win.

Canada is leading the world in its embrace of euthanasia, with efforts to include children as eligible candidates now happening. They recently allowed a partially blind man to be euthanized. There is a pushback, which includes a bill that would halt the expansion for good. In Belgium, euthanasia is becoming big business. In Oregon, assisted suicides are increasing every year, with no end in sight.

1.3. WOKE – Red states continue to enact legislation designed to kill “woke” policies, while blue states seem to be doubling down on them.

SCOTUS appears to be afraid to address public school treatment of children claiming to be non-binary or transgendered, having rejected two challenges to schools that allow for stealth transitioning of the gender of students without parental knowledge or consent.

The Trump administration is also continuing to push policies that challenge any “Woke” policy such as DEI. RFK Jr. just announced hoe would replace the “woke” Obamacare panel determining what type of preventative care is covered.

Progressive judges seem to interpret wokeness as being rule of law rather than the constitution, with a recent ruling by another Federal district judge attempting to stop the Trump XO banning transgender surgery and chemical therapy for children.

Worldwide, “wokeness” is mostly advancing. In Canada, they are preparing to outlaw passages of the bible being publicly read because they condemn homosexuality.

The biggest blow to the woke cause was the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which allegedly uses threats of market assassination to get funding for progressive organizations.

They also get to insert activists into corporations who can do more work transforming the company from within. This story is a strong contender for a near-future Deep Dive Report, should the charges have substantive evidence behind them.

ASSESSMENT – As we observed in our last SitRep, where Republicans rule, action continues to be taken to stop “woke” or socio-progressive policies, while where Democrats rule, they are accelerating their socio-progressive programs and becoming increasingly overtly hostile to opposition to it.

NOTE: Expect us to start using the term socio-progressive instead of “woke,” as the latter term is more difficult to pin down than the former, and the former more accurately describes the ideology.

Worldwide, euthanasia is advancing more than it’s retreating. Abortion in the U.S. is becoming mostly about taking a pill, not going to a clinic, which is sure to undermine Planned Parenthood’s alleged fetus-selling business.

There is no great movement against euthanasia in America today, and the public opinion polls on abortion have not significantly changed. Abortion continues to be one of the key centers of power for the progressives, who rely on this issue to capture and retain the white female vote.

MARKETS

BACKGROUND:

1.1. IRAN WARThe war is having an increasingly negative effective on much of the world’s economies, though the U.S. stock market has yet to feel the pinch. Even if the war were to end today, the lingering economic impact of the war will last for months, if not years.

Europe is more impacted by the war than the U.S. is, with China also taking a heavy toll from the war.

1.2. TARIFFSThe tariff refund window has opened and corporations around the world are forming virtual lines, each hoping to collect millions. In the case of GM, they’re hoping for over $500 million from the refund window. The total refund amount is $166 billion, which is how much the tariff program collected before SCOTUS struck the tariffs down.

1.3. MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY – AI is fast on its way to becoming a utility as the number of users of AI continue to explode even as its popularity doesn’t. Opposition to Data Centers, for instance, is only growing, and politicians are picking up that scent.

Salesforce is claiming 1,000 new hires are the result of AI, reversing the overall trend of AI replacing human jobs.

Progressive media continues to take hits, with Disney announcing 1,000 more layoffs and Marvel announcing layoffs as well. The biggest announced layoffs come from Meta, which will cut 10% of its workforce, 8,000 jobs, starting this May.

ASSESSMENT – The U.S. economy continues to be trending mostly upward, with inflation holding steady, along with unemployment. What Americans are feeling, however, might not align with some of these numbers, as most Americans are employed in ways that might be replaceable by AI.

The world economy is restructuring itself, with the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz forcing alternative trade routes that might just survive the re-opening. Most of this reshuffle is being driven by preparation for and anticipation of the AI transformation everyone knows is already here.

The geopolitical fallout of the AI reality of power of nations has yet to emerge, and thus a new stable global market order is also going to have to wait until more is known about which nations have what kind of AI power.

The sheer capital need of AI development should create opportunities for flourishing for those paying attention to the industry.

SCI-TECH

BACKGROUND:

1.1. SUSTAINABLE FLOURISHINGHere are four bellwether discoveries from April 2026 that could advance sustainable flourishing for all (even if they were discovered by institutions antithetical to it):

Cryopreservation breakthrough could allow for freezing of transplant organs, extending the time dramatically available to deliver a donor organ to a patient in need.

Forest Waste to become high-performance bioplastics. The breakthrough could create an organic source for plastics which can easily be recycled.

Dirt will power our network of mini devices. Microbes in the soil will become fuel cells for low-power-requiring micro-devices that could be used in a variety of applications, including smart clothing.

Fuel Cell turns coal into electricity without burning it. This breakthrough could enable China to use a resource they have a lot of, coal, without polluting the atmosphere to do so. China is the number one coal producer in the world.

1.2. DEFENSE TECHThe Pentagon is seeking a record $1.5 trillion budget to pay for more ships, drones, AI development and integration, and even pay raises.

AI is becoming an increasingly dominant aspect of defense tech, with AI set to soon become the design leader, not fulfiller. AI will reshape the battlefield in ways that not even AI can currently predict.

The frontline of defense tech is AI integration and cheap drone hordes, along with cheap drone horde defense. Ukraine continues to be the frontline of drone development in the world, but the Iran War is teaching the U.S., and Iran, as well as observers, significant lessons as well. Yet those lessons might soon be moot after drone development starts to come from AI itself.

1.3. AI WATCHWe have mentioned AI creating 1,000 jobs in Salesforce. Now, AI has created the “Omniverse,” a place where you can test your whole manufacturing process in virtual environments that mimic the real close enough to make the results transferable to the material world. You can test your product from design to build to test, and cycle through until the design works.

The Americans have claimed they’ve created a computer chip that can survive temperatures as high as 1300 degrees Fahrenheit. The current chip max temperature tolerance is around 200, which is what makes data centers so water dependent. A chip such as this would significantly reduce the need for cooling, which is why data centers require so much water.

Thanks to AI, robots are becoming more high functioning, which can be seen in war. In the Ukraine War, the first ever military surrender of troops to robots was recorded when Russian troops surrendered to Ukrainian robots. China is now working on creating riot bots and drones in anticipation of mass protests.

The AI wars are only going to get hotter, with China signaling the way when it prevented an American company, Meta, from purchasing a Chinese AI agent company, Mantus. The U.S. has also ordered companies to stop sending certain chips to a Chinese chipmaker.

ASSESSMENT – Opportunities for sustainable flourishing technological development continue to happen on a near-daily basis. Yet opportunities for authoritarian technological development also continue to happen as well. AI is an aid to both.

The key technological developments we are looking for are ones that shrink the cost and resource demand of building and sustaining AI machines and their remote brains (data centers). We have little doubt breakthroughs like the computer chip that can sustain super-hot temperatures are on the way.

Be wary of building too big, too fast, for the next generation of AI machines and remote brains might be a lot less demanding, but every bit as powerful, as those massive AI machines.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

President Trump is settling in to being a professional politician leading Conservative US, not America. It seems like more Americans are realizing this. His support is not flagging because MAGA has changed their mind, it is flagging because Americans within his movement are starting to see his un-American tendencies.

While the Democrats are doubling down on their violent rhetoric, news of their demise seems hasty, as they continue to do well in the 2026 midterm polls.

The republicans are losing support from a base that sees them as what we at MIA see them as, the rear guard of the progressives, controlled opposition. Their passage of DHS funding will help offset that trend.

We continue to wait for an American movement similar to Restore Britain in the UK, sans the ethnic element. Britian is a nation-state, an ethnic-based state, while America is not. An American party would put Americans first, but that would not be race-dependent, it would be citizen-dependent.

As humans begin to adjust to an AI reality, they are also seeing the culmination of two radically different approaches to human organizing, the ethnic-based nation state versus the global state.

The progressives support the end of local sovereignties and the creation of a global sovereignty, where most of human history has followed more ethnic-based states. Even empires, more often than not, had a ruling ethnicity (like the Persians over their Empire).

Islamists are aligned with a global state, though theirs is a caliphate. This is one of the many reasons Islamists and Progressives are natural early allies. The more they both face beliefs that create local and individual sovereignty, the more likely they will form alliances.

Nations have been torn apart by the progressives’ attempts to reform landscapes ethnically so a global structure could more easily emerge. By inserting foreigners into localities, they hoped to destroy the local sense of sovereignty. They certainly hoped to do this at the national scale as well.

Now, the battle has come to a head, and we are about to find out how it might all play out, and the UK might just be the first nation to clearly show the results.

Originally published May 1, 2026 for our monthly Issue of Mindful Intelligence Advisor.  Subscribe to get weekly issues.

By Staff

“There is a point in the history of society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it.

‘Is it not enough to render him undangerous? Why still punish? Punishing itself is terrible.’ With this question, herd morality, the morality of timidity, draws its ultimate consequence.”Friedrich Nietzsche, from Beyond Good and Evil

INTRODUCTION

Last week, we did a deep dive on the Iran War, which could be considered our deep dive of the month even considering the attempted assassination of the Trump administration at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

By itself, the attempted shooting did not reach the room the President was in, so the seriousness of the attack was considerably lower compared to Pennsylvania’s attempt. But connected to this story is the story of splitting narratives, conservative ones and progressive ones, that are increasingly giving permission to take matters into your own hands, for the good of the whole.

In this story, we are focused on progressive violence, but we suspect we might soon be doing a report on conservative violence (though it hasn’t happened at any significant scale yet, and we certainly pray it doesn’t happen, for it is not predestined to happen).

So, our Bellwether of the month is really progressive violence, which is systemic, from street fighter to top Democrat Politician, but that violence is the result of their national framing. Within the progressive framework, conservatives, Americans, the staff of MIA, are all in a category of systemic violence that gives progressives permission, even compulsion, to violently respond to us.

Our very institutions commit social murder, which makes us all eligible for death.

Progressives can assume they are not violent for, in their minds, they are only responding to violence.

In America, a homosexual can expect to hear a person of influence boldly say on a major national platform that homosexuality is a sin without fear of being economically assassinated as a result.

In Progressive US, that person might go to jail.

If the law doesn’t send him to jail and even allows him to continue to have a public presence, then the progressive is compelled by their moral code to use violence to end the systemic violence that person is perpetuating against a disenfranchised class of people. This is their government, not the constitution.

A hierarchy of social class informs their governance code. It is the prescription for the description, that the white devil invented evil, and his continued existence is an existential threat to the planet and the non-evil people, the POC (person of color).

In America, a person can expect no significant consequences for publicly declaring support for Hamas and opposing Israel. In Conservative US, that person might lose their college career. If authority doesn’t gatekeep this person, the conservative will not take the matter into their own hands (yet). Their government is the constitution, not hierarchies of social class.

For the progressive, every objection to their program can be rooted to white supremacism. This is not hyperbole; this is observable fact. Recently, progressive Governor Tim Walz called a conservative journalist’s efforts to expose fraud in his state nothing but dog whistles to white supremacism.

For this reason, we are making Progressive Violence as seen through the bellwether event, the White House Correspondents Dinner shooting, our bellwether of the month.

Our Deep Dives now generally follow a Situation Report format, though you will get more analysis and opinion within the Background and Current Situation section than you will in our Situation Reports (like the one in this issue on pg. xx).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

On April 26, 2026, around 8:30PM, a man attempted to break into the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and assassinate President Donald Trump and members of his administration.

Leading up to the shooting, this publication recently surmised the polarization between Progressives and Americans was only deepening, as the rhetoric from progressives was becoming increasingly violent.

Now, even conservatives are expressing fatalistic finality in response. While Progressives want acts of violence, conservatives do too, in the form of arrests that produce convictions, which is how conservatives are currently expressing their violent response, for now.

The aftermath of the shooting has seen further divides and further disconnects from one another’s’ realities, as both major factions, the progressives and conservatives, double down on their own narratives.

At this point this attempted assassination was like a pre-season NFL game because the shooter didn’t come close to the President and no blood was drawn.

BACKGROUND

The shooter’s manifesto would reveal a profound connection between the framing of reality by the most rhetorically violent progressives and the shooter’s heart. The fact that the shooter was a schoolteacher who won a “Teacher of the Month” award reveals he is also a bellwether of the public school system under progressive stewardship.

If true, this would suggest more “shooters” have already been programmed either through the teacher training and screening process or through the progressive-trained-and-screened teachers’ teachings.

THE PROGRESSIVE RHETORIC – This publication has documented the recent history of progressive rhetoric becoming increasingly hostile. This rhetoric started with the two phrases, “Punch a Nazi” and “Freedom of Speech doesn’t mean Freedom from Consequences” right as President Trump announced his candidacy for President in 2015.

Here we present two recent bellwethers in April of progressive rhetoric, along with a mention of the shooter’s manifesto which reflects progressive talking points. For more on progressive rhetoric, go deeper on progressive violence.

1.1. HASAN PIKER – Days before the attempted assassinations, progressive thought leader Hasan Piker said in response to a caller on a podcast that it was ok to kill landlords that don’t rent their properties. He said, “Yeah, kill them. Kill those mother f*ckers. Murder those mother f*ckers in the street. Let the streets—let the streets soak in their f*cking red capitalist blood, dude.”

1.2. JIMMY KIMMEL – Progressive corporate spokesperson Jimmy Kimmel joked on his show days before the attempted assassinations that Melania Trump looked like an expectant widow. Under normal circumstances, the comment could be dismissed as being distasteful but innocuous.

We are not living under normal circumstances. In the wake of numerous recent acts of political violence, it seems ill-timed at the very least. It is not unreasonable to assume something worse, though proving that legally might be nearly impossible.

1.3. RECEIPTS – Shortly after the shooting, progressive media challenged the administration’s assertion that it was progressive rhetoric which led to the shooting. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt presented evidence that shows the shooter was parroting the same exact rhetoric Democrat Politicians and Progressive thought leaders like Hasan Piker has been speaking.

She revealed Allen’s manifesto, which she claims reads like Democrat talking points.

THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS – Before the shooting, the shooter allegedly traveled from California to Washington D.C. by train, checking into the Washington, D.C. Hilton one day before the scheduled White House Correspondence Dinner.

First the shooter had to get past security on the outside perimeter of the hotel. This was not a challenge as he was a guest at the hotel. The shooter himself would note on the way that security was lax, and that if he had wanted to stage a mass casualty event, he could have easily done this.

His race past the next line of security was caught on video. The President was later seen commenting he moved “like a flash.” He never reached the actual dining hall where the President was located. After he breached security he shot a secret service agent in the chest, but the agent was not injured seriously as he was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

The agents returned fire as he ran until he tripped, where he was then apprehended.

President Trump’s take on the shooting: “I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for them. I wanted to see what was going on… And by that time, we started to realise maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one, and different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time.”

THE SHOOTER AND THE MOTIVE – Cole Thomas Allen, 31, from Torrance, CA, has been identified as the suspect in the White House Correspondents Dinner. He is a schoolteacher who notably recently won a teacher of the month award.

His social media presence reveals a man who holds to progressive Christian values, who equates Donald Trump with Hitler, and uses a lot of the same phrases, the same talking points, including false talking points, that progressive thought leaders and Democrat politicians continue to use even as we create this report.

In most instances, a deeper dive would be warranted on the shooter and the motive, but in this case, the shooter and his motive fit so almost stereotypically into the progressive violence memetic, that there isn’t much depth of discovery there beyond what you see at the surface.

Also, the less time focusing on the shooter the better, as their mythologization is one of the motivations behind why such psychopaths act out in the way this shooter did. The real heart of this bellwether is the progressive spirit at war with everyone else, not the shooter himself, who became a mere avatar of that larger story.

One narrative suggests the shooter was allegedly led by progressive talking points equating President Trump and his supporters with Nazis. For this reason alone, he justified his attempt to murder the President and his administration. The counter-narrative is that the shooter was motived by Trump’s rhetoric and actions.

While some progressives fall short of saying this justifies the attempt, many not only don’t, but they are also once again upset the attempt failed.

CURRENT SITUATION

The two nations we have been describing for a while, Progressive US and Conservative US, are becoming clearer every day. The fallout from the shooting makes that even clearer.

The interpretation of the shooting is as radically different as it can be between progressive and conservative. For Americans, they (we too) need to sift through both narrative war machines to discern something closer to the truth that either side might care to see.

NOTE: We’d like to offer a caveat regarding our progressives and conservative neighbors; in both camps there yet resides true Americans who haven’t quite figured out the un-American parts of their coalitions of power.

We recognize there are most likely far more Americans among conservatives than progressives as this point, as most Americans have already left the progressive coalition of power (which is why it is becoming increasingly openly anti-American).

Conservative US is also much closer to Americanism than Progressive US is (which is fundamentally opposed to it).

The prevailing narratives are these: secret service and security deficiencies have been laid bare; Trump is using the shooting to get tax-funding for a new White House ballroom; Progressives are calling the shooting staged by Trump to save flagging opinion polls; and the emergence of an ‘offensive war against progressives’ narrative from the conservatives

PROTECTION – Shortly after the shooting had stopped, questions began flooding in about how a man got so close to putting shotgun blasts on the President and his administration. The shooter himself would call for reform to security after a sane President is in power. He claimed he could have committed a mass murder event had he wanted to because the security was so bad (yes, this bears repeating).

The White House immediately praised Secret Service and their handling of the attack. The President even claimed he got in their way.

A Fox News employee who was present at the dinner wrote on X: “The first exterior security for me was on the street outside of the hotel. I flashed my ticket and was waved through in one second. My name was not checked against any list, I showed no ID, I was not patted down and did not go through a metal detector. I probably could have shown a ticket from a prior year or a fake one as they barely looked at it. (I don’t know who that exterior security was, they were guys in suits).

From that point, I walked into the hotel with no further security check, and I walked down to the Fox pre-party where there were multiple ballrooms that were absolutely PACKED with attendees. Still did not go through any security at that point.”

PROGRESSIVE MEDIA REACTION – A title by PoliticsusUSA summarized the progressive response to the shooting, “The White House Correspondents Dinner Gunman Changes Nothing.” The story is about Trump using the shooting to try to push tax funding of the new White House ballroom, but the headline is intended to speak beyond that story, we believe.

Crooks and Liars finds it incredulous Fox would blame the progressive media for the shooting. Politico also found it incredulous that Republicans would blame Democrat leaders’ political rhetoric for the WHCD shooting.

Also from Crooks and Liars is this headline, “WHCD Faked? Trump’s Numbers Worse Than Any I’ve Ever Seen.”

Daily Kos is upset Melania wants ABC to let Jimmy Kimmel go for saying the First Lady looked like a widow in waiting. Kimmel said that just before the shooting. Remember, these are the same progressives that have ruined whole careers for opposing forced transgender morality compliance.

The biggest bellwether of the progressive media reaction to the shooting might be Nora O’Donnell’s attempt to try to read the shooter’s manifesto to the President just after the shooting. This publication has decided not to reprint the manifesto in whole or in part. It adds little value to the this report’s focus, the overall progressive spirit of war.

This is not a judgment on publications that choose to publish the whole or parts of the manifesto.

Here, O’Donnell is willing to use the CBS platform to reward a man who attempted to murder the President of the United States by delivering his manifesto to his intended target.

As of April 29, 2026, CBS News had still not revealed to their audience the shooter’s party affiliation, Democrat, or his known attendance of progressive events like the “No Kings” protests.

FALLOUT – There has been no slowdown in rhetoric on the progressive side. If anything, conservative rhetoric is now just beginning to heat up beyond the defensive to the offensive. We have seen a growing call for convictions, not indictments, and those calls have only greatly increased after the shooting.

After the shooting, progressive activists protested outside the Hilton Hotel. They held up signs that said, “death to tyrants,” “death to them all,” and “yes, they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in hell.”

Leading up to the shooting, a recent study showed that anti-government violence is spiking. We expect that trend to continue.

Illinois’ Progressive Governor JB Pritzker blamed the attempted assassination of Trump on Trump himself, further seeming to tacitly legitimize the act. Trump is either a Nazi deserving assassination, or he is not. Here, Pritzker is suggesting he IS a Nazi, further emboldening progressive teachers to be the next wave of attack.

An article in politicsususa suggests “Many Americans Don’t Care About 3rd Assassination Attempt On Trump.” This might be true, but only of progressives, not conservatives, who seem to have crossed a threshold in their minds that has shifted them from defensive to offensive violent rhetoric.

This is politicsususa’s assessment of the fallout, which isn’t completely incorrect, “If you spend five minutes on any form of social media, you’ll soon learn that the consensus reaction is people claiming the gunman was staged, MAGAs who think a White House ballroom will solve everything, and some version of the sentiment that the American people have already seen this movie twice before, and they are bored.”

What they’re missing is the MAGA part, the switch that happened after this last attempt. The PA assassination attempt shifted conservatives from American civil language to aggressive defensive anti-insurrectionist language. Now, the language shift appears to be going from defensive to offensive in nature.

A headline from PJ Media summarizes that shift: “The Time for Playing Nice is Over.”

ASSESSMENT

The third direct Trump assassination attempt has pushed the conservative base past the point of reconciliation with the progressives, who have expressed no desire at reconciliation with anyone for the past decade.

The progressives appear more frustrated their latest savior didn’t deliver the goods than anything else. A narrative quickly emerged that the whole thing was staged, as it often does no matter who was the target.

When the target is a non-progressive, the progressive media will tamp down the signals that make the shooting real at the very least, if not amplify false signals that push the staged shooting narrative (without ever having made the claims themselves). This is what they’ve done here.

Yet even though the staged narrative has received top-down corporate signaling and support, progressive communities’ rank and file street fighters had already come up with that narrative all on their own.

One thing about an ideology based on granular morality codes enforced with violence is that they tend to produce same-speak all on their own. This is ESPECIALLY true when that morality code is loaded with unique terms and redefinitions of anchor terms from the culture under attack.

This is similar to a Large Language Model in AI, but with considerably less variation.

So, the top-down signal was redundant, for the most part, at least among the true converts. To the casual viewer of corporate news, the shooter was a Christian and Trump’s own rhetoric and action is why it happened. Also, Trump and the conservatives are still white supremacist Nazis.

Among these casual viewers are true Americans, Americans who still don’t understand they are watching narrative warfare disguised as news.

There are some conservatives fighting the White House ballroom battle, but most seem more concerned with two things, cleaning up Secret Service and figuring out how to deal with the nation they are starting to recognize, Progressive US.

They haven’t given it a name, but they recognize the “left” as having its own national identity, customs, and standards for law that are mostly antithetical to both Conservative US and America (with America being the number one impediment to the progressive dream).

At this point, conservatives are still hoping for elections but are also now demanding arrests that lead to convictions. Support for the GOP and the President has been trending downward. They don’t just want arrests, though, they want first serious and clear indictments, and then convictions with serious consequences, up to and including death (though execution talk is fortunately limited, for now).

While some conservatives are excited about the recent Comey indictment, many are skeptical the indictment will hold weight and wonder when the clear-evidence-showing-treason charges will happen.

They want those charges targeting the top suspected leaders of the “coup,” the ones allegedly behind the Russia Hoax, the “stolen” 2020 election, the J6 Operation, the Open Borders policies, and the Biden Committee Presidency, to lead to convictions that lead to lifetime sentences, at minimum.

Anything less will result in the GOP and the President continuing to bleed support.

Conservatives and Americans are becoming more concerned with American survival than economics, while non-activist Americans seem mostly driven by economics and the freedom to choose abortions or the desire to see them outlawed that in preserving, restoring, and fulfilling American Rule of Law standards.

Progressives want nothing short of a reboot of the country and a purging of the land of all non-progressives, including conservatives and Americans, including the staff of MIA.

This event has not significantly moved the progressives or the non-activist Americans, but it has significantly moved conservatives and Americans. They both now clearly recognize the reality of two nations in one land, Progressive US and Conservative US, with neither nation fully embracing the America that bore them both.

Still, so far, a clear American “movement” has yet to emerge, as Americans mostly find themselves outside the camps, frustrated they can’t easily see what’s really going on behind the veil both camps’ narrative war machines cast.

We hope more of them find this publication and others like it. If you have a friend or a relative you think would like to receive our weekly news analysis, buy them a subscription at MIA subscriptions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The President has chosen to call for the firing of Jimmy Kimmel over his “expecting widow” comments, while Trump’s FCC now moves to challenge ABC affiliate broadcast licenses. The move is clumsy and the justification for it is not clear, especially when it doesn’t target the whole broadcast industry.

IF ABC has violated broadcasting licensing standards, so has the rest of the industry.

In U.S. law, the standard is not what we know but what we can prove. We know Kimmel’s statement was intentionally broad enough that you can assume he’s inciting violence against the President but proving that in a court of law would be, well, extremely challenging.

The FCC move in and of itself would be great if it had already happened, and if it happened for every major broadcast corporation AFTER a study ACTUALLY showed violations of broadcast licensing had been occurring systematically for decades.

We think a serious study would most likely reveal this decades-long systemic pattern of violations to be true, but it would also expose both the GOP and DNC’s involvement in perpetuating this unofficial alliance between the government and corporate media, or rather, between political parties and corporate media.

This soft power appears to be a tool the President doesn’t want to completely forfeit, even if it means not vanquishing one of the two hearts of progressive power, the progressive corporate media control of socio-cultural production, signaling, and gatekeeping.

Like the move against Comey, the effort might do more to strengthen progressives than hurt them. If, once again, Comey’s charges are dismissed, or a jury finds him not guilty, this will only embolden progressives’ sense of violent injustice being perpetrated on them every day America continues to exist.

This is not hyperbole; this is the spirit already emerging in street activist level progressive discourse.

We recommend the President halt the FCC call to review ABC affiliate licensing and instead conduct the comprehensive study that could, theoretically, show the clear illegal entanglement between corporate media, American political parties, and even foreign governments and corporations.

If we are right, the study will show the public the corporate media is not the free press, it’s a criminal operation (by American standards, not progressive ones). If so, the prosecutions of the corporate media will be far more profound, and it will have public support, even from the “normies” who still get their news indirectly through that same corporate media (through the influencers who use corporate media to create content).

From here, our next move would be on Public Schools, especially Teachers’ Unions, who have been allegedly illegally using their non-partisan donations to support anti-American progressive actions, including illegal interruption operations against ICE officers (this is not referring to the lawful protests which also occurred).

The study would first happen, followed by exposure to the public, followed by prosecutions. This would be the second heart of progressive power, control of our education system.

We recommend not pursuing the death penalty and giving everyone but the top leadership an opportunity to confess with immunity and be forgiven, with a path back to the American family preserved.

Originally published May 1, 2026 for our monthly Issue of Mindful Intelligence Advisor.  Subscribe to get weekly issues.

By Paul Gordon Collier, Editor

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” – Edmund Burke

“The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”Gordon B. Hinckley

Our Hope Exit Castle project has become our Hope Estates project. We started this project off attempting to build a working model of an extended family household running a Castle, a building that combines private residence with public service space.

While that is still our goal, we now have another property that could eventually become a similar type of space (Castle Space) and two other properties that are too small to become Hope Exit Castles. They could become satellites for future Castle builds.

In purchasing our church, we came to learn of a growing movement to convert churches to living space. What we did not see was any great effort to both preserve the church’s capacity to service the community through its space alone and create private space for the castle’s stewardship family.

Optimally, the extended family would have no less than 5 members and no more than 10. Ours might start around 6 or 7.

Churches remain a potential future opportunity for Hope Exit Castle plants, including in the communities where our small properties are located. What we learn through our Riqueday Castle project in Canton, PA will help us with future potential church to castle conversions.

Apartment buildings could also become future Hope Exit Castles. Our Harrisburg project will prepare us for such future potential Apartment building to castle conversions.

Hope Exit Castles are not exits from the controlling world, but rather exits from dependence on the controlling world. Yet they are also servants to the victims of that same controlling world. They are still connected to the controlling world through service to those it forgets.

Among our readers we are certain there are those who have perhaps more resources than we do to attempt something similar. If you decide to start, write to us at MIAMAILROOM@gmail.com, subject Hope Exit Castle. If you have already begun, or have built a successful model, write to us as well with the same subject, Hope Exit Castle.

Either my brother or I will write you back. We will hope to regularly communicate with you, to learn from you while you learn from us. Whatever is relevant to our readers that you’d freely share, we will share with them.

While we are looking primarily to convert what is to what might be, churches and apartment buildings to castles, we are also hoping to live long enough to break ground on our first experimental community of 10k people, where every space is designed and built from scratch.

The primary impediment to sustaining extended family structures is the capacity to provide for yourselves through your own actions a sustainably flourishing standard of living and the training that makes such an outcome possible.

Outside of very large cities, the capacity of a community to provide sustainably flourishing vocations to whole extended families decreases the smaller it gets. Even a city of 100,000 will have a hard time keeping extended families together for a few reasons.

One major reason is that the highest skilled will gravitate towards the few most wealthy corporations that can pay them. Generally, those positions are in cities like New York, NY, not Allentown, PA, and certainly not in Canton, PA.

We believe we have the technology, ESPECIALLY with AI, to create communities that can design, plan, create, and serve 80% of its FLOURISHING wants and needs and 95% of its essential needs with a population of 10,000 people.

If a community can do that, it can provide the kind of high-skilled vocation high-skilled people would need to feel fulfilled, at compensations that allow them and their immediate families to live flourishing lives.

The community would be 2-3 square miles, populated by extended family homes (15-20 people each), which would in turn have the capacity to meet 1/3 of its flourishing wants and needs and 80% of its essential needs.

We will share more ideas about this concept in our upcoming special publication, Hope Exit, scheduled to be released with our Quarterly issue on July 10, 2026. This is part of your subscription.

Back on solid ground, three of our four properties have updates to report. In our current home, we recently had a crisis with a broken lawn mower and broken washer. We have been able to replace our broken lawn mower with one that works a lot better than the last. As I am the one who mows, this has been a godsend for me.

Our broken washer has also been replaced, and that washer is significantly better than our last one. My wife primarily does our wash, while my daughter (who is going to college) does her own. For my wife and daughter, the washer does 3 times the amount in one load than the old one did, and in a little less time, with significantly less noise (our washer was very loud towards the end).

In both instances, brokenness led to more flourishing outcomes in the end, though the extra cost, in and of itself, is not sustainable. In our case, we can meet this need, thankfully.

The Riqueday Castle has had plastering done to patch up some holes. We’ve identified a leak in the roof that is affecting one of our window wells in the sanctuary. We are in the process of considering contractors for a bid on a new roof, and contractors for a new bathroom and laundry hookup.

Mowing season is back in action, so our unofficial caretaker, Anthony, is on the job once again.

We have been saving towards our property taxes (we have 3 that come to a total of around $7K) and are about ready to pay one of them (the $4K one) soon. We will be opening up a bank account in the name of Riqueday Castle; with myself, my wife, and my brother being the authorized users.

After we do this, we will start paying our Castle bills through that account. We can also then have a shared account to throw money in so we can build it up for needed future investments.

We have a mystery in our electric bill that saw a bit of an unexpected spike (not significant, but not unnoticeable either). So far, we haven’t figured out what the culprit is. We will see if it continues with the next bill.

We have procured donated furniture which I have not yet seen. Brother Bill and Anthony will be taking the furniture to the Castle where we will all decide what goes where, though a few pieces are specifically for Bill’s future living quarters.

In Harrisburg, Bill, Anthony, and one of Bill’s close friends, cleaned up the third-floor apartment. Anthony painted the front room. Bill ordered furniture for the apartment which has yet to be assembled. Bill has also ordered a new toilet to be installed in the bathroom.

After the apartment is livable, Bill will be able to make more trips to DC where more opportunities for clients are. I will go with him on some occasions, but not often. We are seeking more business to raise more funds for our Hope Estate project. If you need website marketing, design, or building, or reputation protection, or research, ping us at MIAMAILROOM@gmail.com, subject Business Query.

Had we not chosen to embark on this project, both my brother and I were in comfortable circumstances. The level of business we had was more than sufficient to sustain us at this comfortable level. Yet I would not trade that comfort (which I do sometimes miss) for the opportunity I have to contribute to human understanding through my success or failure.

Can we redesign our very home life to accommodate extended family living that serves the community as well? It is better for me to fail than to have lived in comfort never having tried to answer that question for myself when I had the resources to do so.

I say this to appeal to you, the reader, who might have such resources, to consider trying something similar yourself. If you choose to start, or if you’ve already started, or if you’re well into doing what we’re calling “Castle living,” let us know at MIAMAILROOM@gmail.com. It could be the start of a fruitful conversation for all.

Originally published May 1, 2026 for our monthly Issue of Mindful Intelligence Advisor.  Subscribe to get weekly issues.

This report covers political, world, cultural, market, and sci-tech news from April 1-30, 2026.

This report contains the Global Outlook, Headlines Missed, and People Advance Report.

For an analysis of this month’s news, read our Situation Report on pg. xx.

Top Ten Tagged News

  1. Iran War
  2. 2026 Elections
  3. Trump Dinner Shooter
  4. Trump Deportations
  5. Strait of Hormuz
  6. Gerrymandering Wars
  7. Eric Swalwell Investigation
  8. Ukraine War
  9. AI Planning and Design
  10. Anti-ICE Action

GLOBAL OUTLOOK

NOTE: Read about the White House Correspondents Dinner Shooting on pg. 2 in our Deep Dive Report.

AS IRAN’S LEADER RE-EMERGES, U.S. FAILS TO FINISHPresident Trump has rejected the latest proposal by Iran to continue the ceasefire, which seems to be de facto over. The Supreme Leader has allegedly emerged and promised to free the Strait of Hormuz from U.S. presence. The progressive media is casting doubts on U.S. power while Trump’s base buckles in its support for the war.

PUTIN THREATENS TRUMP OVER IRANPresident Vladimir Putin of Russia is claiming he has warned Trump of “extremely harmful consequences” if the U.S renews attacks on Iran. The public declaration puts Russia’s power reputation with its allies on the line should the U.S. attack and not suffer “extremely harmful consequences.”

IMPEACHMENT HOAX? – The 2019 Trump Impeachment was based on dubious, or fake evidence, concocted by “Democrat partisans,” or so a report from the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard suggested.

PUBLIC SCHOOL UNIONS FUEL PROGRESSIVE POWERPublic School Teachers Unions have contributed more than $1 billion to progressive organizations, causes, and candidacies in the last 10 years alone. The two heaviest hitters are the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA). These two unions combined to account for $669 million alone. This means progressives could count on teachers’ unions to give them $100 million a year for the last 10 years.

AI IS BECOMING A UTILITY – More and more Americans have begun making AI subscription services a part of their essential household budget. Since 2024, paid AI subscriptions have increased by 38%. The paid AI subscription service market is expected to exponentially expand over the next two years.

AI LEADERSHIP ASSASSIN CAUGHT – A man who tried to kill OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been caught. Included in the evidence is a hit list of AI leaders the man hoped to kill. An FBI Affidavit claimed the suspect wanted to kill AI by killing its human leaders.

The suspect allegedly wrote, “Also if I am going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I must lead by example and show that I am fully sincere in my message.”

OPEC LOSES UAEThe United Arab Emirates is officially separating from the OPEC alliance. They declared, “During our time in the organisation, we made significant contributions and even greater sacrifices for the benefit of all. However, the time has come to focus our efforts on what our national interest dictates and our commitment to our investors, customers, partners and global energy markets. This is what we will focus on going forward.”

WAS CHATGPT BEHIND A MASS SHOOTING? Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier thinks ChatGPT may have had a hand to play in a recent mass shooting event on the Florida State University campus. He declared, “My prosecutors have looked at this and they’ve told me if it was a person on the other end of that screen, we would be charging them with murder.”

He is referring to ChatGPT, whom he accuses of aiding and abetting the shooting. The AG has opened a criminal investigation into ChatGPT.

TRUMP JESUS – President Trump posted a meme depicting himself as Jesus while he was also in the midst of a back and forth with the Pope of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV. This followed his f bomb on Easter where he threatened to end the Iranian civilization. The President deleted the meme.

VIRIGINIA SAYS YES TO PROGRESSIVE GERRYMANDERINGThe Progressives won a major battle in the ongoing gerrymandering wars, this time scoring a narrow victory in Virginia. The ballot measure allows the progressives to change U.S. House Districts to effectively take 4 Republican seats away. The now-passed ballot measure faces legal challenges. The results have yet to be certified.

COMEY’S 86 47 GETS INDICTEDThe Department of Justice has garnered two new indictments targeting former FBI Director James Comey. The indictments are connected to a social media post by Comey that showed seashells on the beach laid out to signal “86 47.” One charge is “knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of — and to inflict bodily harm on — the president.” The second charge is “knowingly and willfully transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to kill the president.”

STARMER HOLDS ON AS EPSTEIN SNARE TIGHTENSThe UK’s Prime Minister Kier Starmer is holding on amidst increasing calls for him to resign. Evidence already revealed Starmer fully knew the man he appointed to be Ambassador to the U.S. had Epstein ties before the appointment. Now, it is revealed he willfully lied when confronted before Peter Mandelson, the man in question, was finally appointed.

SWALWELL IMPLOSION CRATERS CONGRESSThe Democrat congressman turned California Senate candidate is now former in both categories. Eric Swalwell is now out of the Senate race and congress after more women have come forward, accusing him of sexual assault and harassment. The fallout could affect other members of congress on both sides of the aisle, who may have similar credible accusations against them.

SPLC ACCUSED OF FUNDING HATEThe FBI has leveled multiple criminal indictments against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). SPLC is accused of spending millions of dollars to fund numerous far-right hate groups, including the group behind the now-infamous Charlottsville, VA white supremacist rally. The SPLC’s initial defense is it was simply paying informants.

EU WINS IN HUNGARY?After Victor Orban’s ouster in Hungary’s elections, his replacement, Péter Magyar, a former member of the Orban government, might not be on the EU’s side after all. The election was characterized as the EU versus national sovereignty movements, with Magyar representing the EU. But soon after winning, Magyar announced plans to double down on blocking immigration to the country.

Claims of Magyar being an Orban sleeper candidate seem plausible, but not credible. We will continue to evaluate Magyar’s policies in action after his government takes power in May.

CHARLES STEALTH BOMBS TRUMP IN CONGRESS – Using extremely veiled language, Charles III, King of Britian, appeared to tell the U.S. congress Trump should end the war in Iran, stop deportations, and embrace DEI. Progressives tend to agree with this assessment, claiming Charles “owned” Trump in front of congress.

This is our interpretation after reading between the two clear focal points of his speech, diversity and religious tolerance, both target Trump deportations of immigrants and his war on Islamist Iran.

SPACE DEFENSE AND NUCLEAR SCIENTIST APOCOLYPSE? The FBI is now looking into the disappearance and deaths of numerous scientists working in the nuclear and space defense industries. The cases go back to 2022. U.S. House Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said in a letter to the FBI, “If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to U.S. national security and to U.S. personnel with access to scientific secrets.”

He later added, “Once you see the facts, it would suggest that something sinister could be happening and it would be a national security concern… Congress is very concerned about this. Our committee is making this one of our priorities now because we view this as a national security threat.”

POPE PROMISES NOTHING MORE THAN INFORMAL BLESSING FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGEPope Leo XIV has affirmed he has no plans to go beyond allowing priests to bless gay marriages. In other words, he will not approve formalizing blessings for gay marriages.

Leo declared, “When a priest gives the blessing at the end of Mass, when the Pope gives the blessing at the end of a great celebration like the one we had today, there are blessings for all people. Francis’s famous expression, ‘everyone, everyone, everyone,’ expresses the Church’s conviction that everyone is welcomed, everyone is invited, everyone is invited to follow Jesus, and everyone is invited to seek conversion in their own lives. To go beyond this today, I believe, could cause more disunity than unity, and that we should seek to build our unity on Jesus Christ and on what Jesus Christ teaches.”

TRANSGENDER CARE FOR KIDS, SAYS DISTRICT JUDGEUnited States District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai has ruled on the HHS’s declaration that gender-affirming care for children is unsafe and ineffective. The progressive judge has ruled the HHS declaration to be unconstitutional.

The judge sided with the 22 progressive-led states, which argued the federal government did not have the legal authority to make such a determination.

META’S DOWNSIZING CONTINUES – The parent company of Facebook, Meta, has announced plans to lay off nearly 10% of its total workforce, 8,000 positions, starting in early May 2026. These layoffs may not be the only layoffs, as more might be announced after May of this year.

HEADLINES MISSED

FISA PASSES HOUSE, BIDEN VEHICLE KILL SWITCH SURVIVESRepresentative Chip Roy (R-TX) is still trying to kill what is being called the Biden Vehicle Kill Switch. This is a requirement by the government that all car manufacturers create a vehicle kill switch that car owners cannot deactivate. So far, he has failed. This latest effort has also failed, with the Johnson-led House passing FISA renewal ahead of Thursday’s deadline.

Roy proposed an amendment to the FISA renewal act that effectively kills the Biden kill switch. Roy said, “Republicans should not be continuing a blatantly invasive Biden-era policy that enables round-the-clock monitoring of Americans in their own cars. That’s why I introduced an amendment to FISA to eliminate the ‘kill switch’ and stop this Big Brother technology from being built into new vehicles.”

SCOTUS ALLOWS STEALTH TRANSITIONING OF KIDSSCOTUS rejected a petition by parents to challenge a Massachusetts law that allows schools to treat their children as a gender not aligned with their biological sex without parental consent. The schools also have a policy permitting teachers to conceal the child’s school-affirmed trans or non-binary gendered identities from the parents.

FISA COURT QUASHES SPY TOOL, TRUMP DISSENTSThe Trump administration is fighting a FISA court ruling that prevents the government from specifically searching for individuals online who have contacted a foreigner.

The administration is challenging the FISA court as the court’s existence comes up for renewal this April 30. The GOP-led House extended the program by unanimous consent vote during a late-night session.

CANADA GIVES LIBERALS BIG MAJORITY WINCanada’s coalition government is effectively over after two special elections have secured a simple majority for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party. The possibility of gaining a simple majority happened after five members of opposition parties defected to join the liberals. The wins secure a majority for the Liberals until 2029.

MALI BUCKLES, RUSSIA WITHDRAWSAfter Islamists led a successful offensive across Mali, Russian forces withdrew, while junta forces failed to stop the assaults. Not only did the Islamists successfully disrupt multiple cities, but they also killed the country’s defense minister and gained territory in northern areas. The assault puts the junta’s power in jeopardy, especially given Russia’s disengagement.

FINLAND RULES CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE IS “HATE SPEECH” – Finland’s Highest Court has ruled two Christian pastors who created a Christian marriage pamphlet in 2004 violated hate speech laws.

One of the “guilty” pastors said, “I am shocked and profoundly disappointed that the court has failed to recognize my basic human right to freedom of expression. I stand by the teachings of my Christian faith and will continue to defend my and every person’s right to share their convictions in the public square.”

CANADA TO CRIMINALIZE BEING “ANTI-GAY”If you read scripture in public that condemns homosexuality, you might soon be jailed in Canada if Canada’s latest Bill C-9 passes. The proposed law would define “harm” as making public statements protected groups would find offensive.

HOW AMERICA IS DEVELOPING CHINA’S WEAPONS OF WAR – American tech companies warn the world that China’s domestic tech companies are really military tech companies in disguise. We are China’s free defense tech research and development department now.

CHINA’S MANTUS CUT OFF FROM U.S. PURCHASE China has made a decisive move in the emerging AI race and war with the U.S., halting the purchase of a Chinese-created AI-agent company called Manus. The purchaser was the U.S.’s Meta. China did not offer an explanation, though it reflects AI nationalization trends both in China and in general.

HUMANS SURRENDER TO ROBOTS – According to Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian troops surrendered to Ukrainian drones and robots, making it, allegedly, the world’s first human surrender to a robot in a field of battle.

Zelensky claimed the machines “carried out (the mission) without infantry and without losses on our side. For the first time in the history of this war, an enemy position was taken exclusively by unmanned platforms – ground systems and drones.”

RIOT BOTS AND THE CCP – China hopes to soon deploy robots to control future rioters. The People’s Armed Police Force (PAP) is already testing the possibility in preparation for a potential mass riot event.

SOUTH OF THE BORDER GOING CASHLESS – The Progressive-led Mexican government is looking to aggressively push towards a cashless society and a national digital ID system.

CONCEALING SIN FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAMEA Christian Homeschool League in Texas is accused of knowingly hiring a registered sex offender to be a baseball coach without informing anyone of his convicted sex offender past.

PEOPLE ADVANCE REPORT

SCOTUS KILLS RACE-BASED GERRYMANDERING. – There were three big wins this month for the Republicans in the Gerrymandering Wars that culminated with a major SCOTUS ruling on race-based gerrymandering.

First, the Virginia Supreme Court continues to refuse to certify the special election that saw the Progressives win the “right” to use gerrymandering to eliminate 4 GOP U.S. House Seats.

Second, SCOTUS has confirmed the Texas gerrymander map that switches 5 Democrat-held seats to 5 likely GOP seats. In Florida, a gerrymander plan is advancing in the legislature that would net the GOP 4 more seats in the U.S. House.

Third, SCOTUS has struck down race-based gerrymandered districts in a move that is existentially threatening to the Democrat Party in its current iteration.

HOUSE ENDS DHS SHUTDOWN – The U.S. House has passed partial funding of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sending the bill to the President for an expected signing. The passage ends the 76 days of DHS shutdown.

NO MORE MASS MAILER ELECTIONS? – President Trump’s XO attempts to stop mass mailer elections in America. Lawsuits have already been filed.

PRO-LIFE JOURNALISTS FREED FROM LAWFARE – After years of being under the weight of criminal prosecution, undercover journalists have now seen all their charges dropped. They exposed Planned Parenthood in a series of undercover videos selling parts of aborted babies.

SHUTTING DOWN IN NATO – Rubio hints at 80% reduction of U.S. military presence in Europe in the near future.

CHARLIE KIRK HONORED WITH 1A PROTECTING LAWS – Kansas joins a growing list of states which passed laws honoring the late assassinated American activist Charlie Kirk. The laws have one thing in common, they both protect rights enumerated in the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. These rights are the right to religious liberty and the right to freedom of speech.

WOKE HEALTH PANEL NO MORE – RFK Jr. is vowing to replace the “woke” panel currently in charge of choosing what preventative care gets covered by Obamacare. Kennedy plans on replacing the current allegedly “woke” members of the U.S. Preventative Service Task Force, saying “We’re now bringing new members on who have a clear mission.”

U.S. MILITARY GETS VACCINE FREEDOM – Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth has ended mandatory flu vaccines for military personnel. While flu vaccines will still be offered, military personnel can now opt out of them if they so choose.

NO MORE MEN IN WOMEN’S CELLS – A Federal Appeals Court has upheld President Trump’s XO requiring biological sex to be used to determine which prison an inmate is assigned to. The argument hinged on the claim biological males faced “cruel and unusual punishment” by being forced to be imprisoned with men.

JESUS RESTORED BY ITALIANS IN LEBANON – Italian Peacekeeper Troops in Lebanon delivered a new Jesus statue to a Lebanon village that saw their previous Jesus statue smashed by an Israeli soldier in a now-viral video. The IDF has apologized and punished the solider responsible.

HOLDING MTG’S SEAT – Clay Fuller holds on to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat in Georgia in a special election that at least gave the Democrats a consolation prize, he failed to win by as great a margin as Greene did in the election prior. With Republicans holding a slim majority in the U.S. House, this was a big win for the GOP.

AI CREATES 1K JOBS AT SALESFORCE – Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced online plans to hire 1000 new college graduates to drive the “exponential” potential of AI. He said in his X post, “… they said AI would kill entry-level jobs. Meanwhile these grads & interns are building it.”

PRINCIPAL HALTS MASS SHOOTER – Oklahoma’s Paul’s Valley High School witnessed a heroic miracle when their principal, Kirk Moore, stopped a wanna-be-mass-school shooter, 20-year-old Victor Hawkins. The principal stopped the shooter before he could harm or injure anyone, other than the principal himself. The principle survived the shooting with only minor injuries.

MOONSHINE LIBERTY – The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has essentially struck down a 158-year-old law that made moon shiners run, the law making home liquor distilling illegal.

LINCOLN REFLECTING POOL RESTORATION SAVES AND DAZZLES – President Donald Trump oversaw an upgrade of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that saved the nation hundreds of millions and left the monument looking better than ever before.

 

Bellwether Digest – MAY 9, 2026

By STAFF

This digest covers political, world, cultural, market, and sci-tech news from May 8-9, 2026.

This digest contains the Global Outlook, Headlines Missed, and People Advance Report.

TOP NEWS TAGS

  1. 2026 Elections
  2. Iran War
  3. AI Culture
  4. China US
  5. 2020 Election Fraud

GLOBAL OUTLOOK

  1. U.S. AI FIRMS TO GO THROUGH GOVERNMENT SAFETY SCREEN – America’s major AI companies, including Google and Microsoft, have agreed to submit all new AI models to the Federal government’s Commerce Department for a national security safety review/ This review will be conducted by the Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards.
  2. MAGA WINS BIGLY IN INDIANAFive of the seven republican Indiana state senators that voted against the redistricting measure that would eliminate Democrat seats in the U.S. House lost decisively to Trump-endorsed candidates in the GOP Primary. Four other Trump-endorsed candidates won their primaries decisively as well.
  3. RUBIO CLAIMS “OPERATION EPIC FURY” IS OVERSecretary of State Marco Rubio announced the end of “Operation Epic Fury,” claiming the offensive part of the war with Iran is over.
  4. OMAR THUMBS STATE INQUIRYDemocrat Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota is under investigation for suspicion on fraud by the state of Minnesota. She failed to meet a deadline to turn over documents related to that investigation.

HEADLINES MISSED

  1. CHINA GATEKEEPING U.S. MILITARY FROM CHINA DEFENSE INDUSTRY THREATSThe U.S. is allegedly paying a CCP-connected firm to help identify potential stealth risks from embedding Chinese technology into the U.S. military.
  2. CCP terrorizes Dissenters on American SoilA former CCP agent told CBN News he was part of an operation to identify and silence former Chinese citizens in America who spoke out against the party. He told CBN they use threats, entrapment, and even kidnapping.

PEOPLE ADVANCE

  1. SICKLE CELL CURE MIGHT SOON BE ON THE WAYIf not an outright cure, a new discovery could turn Sickle Cell Anemia from a deadly and painful chronic disease to a curable, or at least manageable disease. The discovery comes from Swee Lay Thein and Stuart Orkin.
  2. TRUMP GIVES TEEN FIGHTING CHANCE AGAINST CANCERA 15-year-old teen boy from Louisiana was running out of options in his fight against cancer. A viral video brought his plea to President Trump, who promptly moved to get the boy the special treatment he needs to continue his fight for life.

STORIES WE ARE WATCHING

  1. ‘RINO’ Indiana Senate incumbents lose BIGLY to Trump-endorsed challengers– www.theblaze.com
  2. Trump orders military to pause effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz – The Washington Post
  3. US Proposes Resolution to UNSC to Defend Free Navigation, Secure Hormuz; Rubio Says ‘Test’ for UN – Republic World
  4. Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump-backed Vivek Ramaswamy wins Republican nomination for Ohio governor– timesofindia.indiatimes.com
  5. Reporter Uncovers Stunning Fraud Red Flags in America’s Second-Biggest Somali Enclave– www.westernjournal.com
  6. Romanian government collapses after losing no-confidence vote – Europe live | World news– www.theguardian.com
  7. Post-poll violence in Bengal leaves 4 dead, dozens injured – The Times of India
  8. Education Department probes ‘all-women’ Smith College for admitting trans students– www.thecollegefix.com
  9. Trump tells shocked kids Iran ‘was two weeks away from killing you’ | World | News– www.express.co.uk
  10. Fed-up Justice Alito Just Leveled 5 Humiliating Insults at Justice Jackson in Withering Majority Opinion– www.westernjournal.com

Radar Links

  1. Leftist Censorship Groups Advise AI Company Anthropic– www.dailysignal.com
  2. Top Trump advisers urge China to leverage Iran ties to reopen Strait of Hormuz to global traffic– www.euronews.com
  3. Final Persian Gulf Oil Shipment Reaches California Amid Supply Fears– legalinsurrection.com
  4. IDF kills Hamas commander linked to Oct. 7 Nova massacre in Gaza airstrike– www.foxnews.com
  5. Black Democrat Elected Mayor In Deep-Red Texas City– crooksandliars.com
  6. Greene wins Michigan Senate special election, Democrats retain control of chamber – Michigan Advance
  7. 3 killed in latest U.S. strike on suspected drug boat in eastern Pacific, Pentagon says– www.cbsnews.com
  8. Syria says it dismantled Hezbollah-linked cell plotting assassinations | Conflict News– www.aljazeera.com
  9. Europe’s jet fuel supplies should fall below the key 23-day shortage threshold in June– fortune.com
  10. US ‘Welcomes’ Vatican Input on AI Regulation, Says Ambassador Burch – National Catholic Register
  11. REVEALED: Far-left UVU groups celebrate Charlie Kirk assassination, target TPUSA, Trump admin | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com
  12. Louisiana Bill Would Educate Teens About Development of Unborn Babies– www.lifenews.com
  13. Planned Parenthood Gender Drugs Raise Fertility Concerns– www.standingforfreedom.com
  14. Social Media Threats: Comey’s Indictment Trivializes Serious Online Attacks Against Politicians | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org
  15. When strength in numbers stops working: Climate extremes rewrite monkey society in Costa Rica– phys.org

 

America’s major AI companies, including Google and Microsoft, have agreed to submit all new AI models to the Federal government’s Commerce Department for a national security safety review/ This review will be conducted by the Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards.

US government expands vetting of frontier AI models for security risks – Politico
News Source
EXCERPT:
The Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation will conduct safety testing of new AI systems before they are released publicly.

Top artificial intelligence firms Microsoft, xAI and Google DeepMind have inked deals with the Commerce Department that will allow the government to vet their AI models for national security risks ahead of release.

The Center for AI Standards and Innovation, an office within the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, announced Tuesday that it will conduct pre-deployment evaluations and “targeted research” on AI models developed by the companies.

 

By STAFF

This digest covers political, world, cultural, market, and sci-tech news from April 1-16, 2026.

This digest contains the Global Outlook, Headlines Missed, and People Advance Report.

TOP NEWS TAGS

  1. Iran War
  2. 2026 Elections
  3. Gerrymandering Wars
  4. Trump Assassins
  5. AI China

GLOBAL OUTLOOK

  1. ABORTION PILL MAILER BAN LIFTED BY SCOTUSAfter a lower court issued an injunction temporarily blocking the abortion pill from being delivered through the mail, SCOTUS has lifted the injunction.
  2. SPIRIT AIRLINES LOSES ITS SPIRIT – Spirit Airlines had a 34-year run that came to an end this month after the company declared bankruptcy. They shut down all operations and are now in the process of selling off their assets, including their planes.
  3. SENATE HOPEFUL ARRESTED FOR THREATENING TO KILL TRUMPRaymond Chandler III of Alleghany County, PA was Democrat U.S. Senate candidate until he was arrested for threatening to murder President Trump. His plan was to threaten a U.S. Senator’s daughter if the Senator didn’t walk into the oval office and assassinate President Trump.
  4. DYING GAMESTOP GRABS FOR EBAYAs GameStop continues to struggle to stay afloat, it looks to make a $56 billion bid to buy eBay. The problem is they cannot show how they could pay for it.

HEADLINES MISSED

  1. HOMESCHOOLERS FACE CPS CALL IN CONNECTICUT If you want to take your child out of the public school system in Connecticut, your family will be subject to a visit from the Department of Children’s Protective Services.
  2. EPSTEIN RANCH WAS EUGENICS PARADISE?New leaked Epstein Files point to forced pregnancies of teens in Eugenics experiments conducted on Epstein’s ranch, Zorro Ranch.

PEOPLE ADVANCE

  1. FLORIDA GOP GERRYMANDERING MAP SIGNED – Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a new U.S. House redistricting plan that will give the GOP 4 more seats. The law was immediately challenged in state courts.
  2. AMERICA’S EUROPE TROOP CUTS BEGINPresident Donald Trump announced a 5,000 troop cut in Germany, adding more is to come. He said, “We’re going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.”
  3. ALBERTA WANTS TO LEAVE CANADALeaders of the separatist movement of Canada’s western province Alberta claim to have enough signatures to trigger a vote on separation from Canada.
  4. KEEP YOUR PERSONAL DATA AT HOME EVEN WHEN YOU BUY ONLINEHarvard has created a digital open-source wallet that keeps your private data from being shared online. The digital wallet keeps your personal data on your phone, validating your purchases without relying on a third-party source to do so.

 

Stories We are Watching

  1. Child Struck by Gunfire as Secret Service Neutralizes Alleged Gunman Near White House– www.westernjournal.com
  2. ‘I think they’re getting some guns’– www.washingtonexaminer.com
  3. Trump’s Approval Ratings Sink Even Lower– crooksandliars.com
  4. Ukraine and Russia Declare Separate Truces– www.themoscowtimes.com
  5. Trump & Republicans Float Deal to Flip Fetterman from Democrat to GOP– slaynews.com
  6. Russia Lost Ground in Ukraine in April, a First Since Mid-2023 – AFP Analysis– www.themoscowtimes.com
  7. Fulton County moves to block DOJ subpoena for 2020 election workers’ personal data, calls effort “harassment” – CBS News– news.google.com
  8. U.S. sinks 7 small Iranian boats as Iran launches attacks on UAE and ships in Strait of Hormuz– www.cbsnews.com
  9. Young Voters Swing Back To Democrats As Republicans Are In Big Trouble– www.politicususa.com
  10. House sexual harassment payouts exceeded $300,000– www.politico.com

 

On Our Radar

  1. White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released– www.nytimes.com
  2. SCOTUS declines to hear Stockton lawsuit over doctors penalized for allegedly spreading COVID-19 misinformation – krem.com
  3. DCCC Caught Putting ‘Thumb on the Scale’ in 2026 Primaries, ‘Narrowing Democracy’ – RedState– redstate.com
  4. Canada to host NATO-backed global defence bank, Vancouver awaits HQ decision | Daily Hive | Urbanized – Daily Hive
  5. The US fights to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as the UAE comes under attack in a test of Iran truce – AP News– news.google.com
  6. Staffer for Dem Sen. Cory Booker Who Brought Gun Into Capitol Without a License Saw Charges Quickly Dropped: DOJ– www.westernjournal.com
  7. Mamdani Calls ICE ‘Cruel and Inhumane’ After Anti-ICE Mob Violently Riots in Support of Criminal Illegal › American Greatness– amgreatness.com
  8. The Redistricting War Has Just Begun– www.dailysignal.com
  9. America’s AI Rules Are Being Written in Courtrooms | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org
  10. China Construction Bank (CICHF) Receives a Buy from Goldman Sachs – The Globe and Mail
  11. Trump considering federal AI model oversight – Mashable
  12. EU Leaders Respond to Question on National Identity and Globalism at EPC Summit in Yerevan – The Armenian Report
  13. ‘Nature’ Retracts Paper on the Benefits of ChatGPT in Education– www.404media.co
  14. Trump Goes All In On Regime Change In Cuba– thefederalist.com
  15. Earth’s origin mystery cracked? Meteorites may hold the secret to life’s ingredients |– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

After a lower court issued an injunction temporarily blocking the abortion pill from being delivered through the mail, SCOTUS has lifted the injunction. The abortion pill will continue to be available online until the matter is fully adjudicated in the courts. The ruling could make abortion an issue in the 2026 midterms. This is an issue that favors the Democrats.

Abortion pill rulings bring the issue back to the forefront in a midterm election year – 10TV
News Source

Excerpt:

Back-to-back court rulings on abortion pill access are thrusting a contentious political issue back into the spotlight ahead of this year’s midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the second half of President Donald Trump’s term.

Friday’s ruling from a federal appeals court restricted mail access to mifepristone prescriptions, one of the most common abortion methods around the country, in the biggest shift to federal abortion policy since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision allowing states to enforce abortion bans.

The Supreme Court then temporarily restored broad access to the drug on Monday while it further considers the case, setting the stage for a potential decision that could have wide-ranging consequences for patients and providers.

The U.S. House has passed partial funding of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sending the bill to the President for an expected signing. The passage ends the 76 days of DHS shutdown.

Congress ends record-shattering DHS shutdown – Politico

News Source

EXCERPT:

On the 76th day since Department of Homeland Security funding lapsed, Congress passed a bill Thursday restoring the flow of federal dollars to most of its agencies — without solving any of the policy disagreements that led to the record-breaking shutdown.

The House approved by voice vote the partial DHS funding measure the Senate passed more than a month ago. President Donald Trump is expected to swiftly sign the bipartisan legislation, fully funding the Coast Guard, TSA, Secret Service, FEMA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, along with other offices within DHS that don’t deal with immigration enforcement.

News Source
EXCERPT:

It’s been a long week for the gerrymandering Democrats.

On Monday, attorneys representing Virginia Democrats’ absurdly gerrymandered rewrite of the commonwealth’s congressional maps faced some pointed questions from a skeptical-sounding Virginia Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, the high court denied a motion brought by Virginia Attorney General Jay “Two Bullets” Jones to appeal Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack “Chip” Hurley Jr.’s immediate ruling declaring unconstitutional last week’s referendum to change Virginia’s constitution. Voters narrowly approved a ballot question seeking to “temporarily” rip out a 2020 amendment that put political map-making in the hands of an independent commission — an inconvenient impediment to Democrats’ drive to change the current congressional maps to grab four more seats in Congress in the midterms. If all goes as the Dems planned, the new maps would give them a 10-1 advantage in Virginia’s congressional delegation.

Also on Tuesday, a three-judge panel dismissed a leftist lawfare group’s “novel” lawsuit seeking to rewrite Wisconsin’s congressional maps further to the Democratic Party’s advantage. The ruling marked the second rejection of the Democrats’ efforts to nix congressional maps drawn by the Red China-sounding People’s Maps Commission, handpicked by far-left Gov. Tony Evers. They have hopes a liberal-led Wisconsin Supreme Court will come to their rescue.

News Source
EXCERPT:

The Trump administration has removed the entire board of independent overseers for the National Science Foundation (NSF), CBS News reports. The decision, announced Friday, eliminated all 22 members of the board, which had planned to meet next week.

“I wasn’t entirely surprised, to be honest,” said one dismissed board member in an email.

Another dismissed board member noted the vast changes the Trump administration hopes to accomplish regarding the move.

“I think this is one more indication of the sweeping changes that the administration has in mind for the NSF.”

The board members were released via an email from the Presidential Personnel Office which noted that “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump,” their positions were to be terminated, “effective immediately.”

News Source
EXCERPT:

“The First Amendment does not protect vandalism, criminal trespass, or obstruction of law enforcement,” wrote Judge Kenneth Lee in the court’s decision.

The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against a group of anti-ICE protesters, blocking a lower court judge’s order that barred federal officers from using less-lethal munitions to disperse unruly crowds at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon. The facility has been the site of ongoing violent demonstrations since June 2025.

The 2-1 panel decision, issued on Monday by judges Kenneth Lee, Eric Tung, and Ana de Alba, the last of whom dissented, states that protesters failed to show that federal officers deployed crowd-control munitions as a means of retaliation, rejecting the plaintiffs’ arguments that their First Amendment rights were violated. The decision is a permanent administrative stay granted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) pending further appeal proceedings, in which the panel ruled that the Trump administration is “likely to succeed on the merits” of the case.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia is claiming he has warned Trump of “extremely harmful consequences” if the U.S renews attacks on Iran. The public declaration puts Russia’s power reputation with its allies on the line should the U.S. attack and not suffer “extremely harmful consequences.”

Putin issues ‘extreme consequences’ warning to Trump on Iran www.mirror.co.uk
News Source
EXCERPT:

Vladimir Putin has reportedly warned Donald Trump that there will be “extremely harmful consequences” if the US attacks Iran again, as the pair reportedly discussed a potential Ukraine ceasefire in a 90-minute call.

Vladimir Putin has issued a warning to Donald Trump that there will be “extremely harmful consequences” should the US launch further attacks on Iran, according to reports.

It came as the two leaders discussed the Iran conflict and floated a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine during a 90-minute telephone conversation on Wednesday.

Public School Teachers Unions have contributed more than $1 billion to progressive organizations, causes, and candidacies in the last 10 years alone. The two heaviest hitters are the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), who combined to account for $669 million alone. This means progressives could count on teachers’ unions to give them $100 million a year for the last 10 years.

Teachers Unions Have Funneled More Than $1 Billion to Left-Wing Causes › American Greatness amgreatness.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

A report from Defending Education says teachers unions across the nation have quietly spent more than $1 billion in member dues on political activism and left-wing causes over the past decade.

Breitbart reports that two national teachers’ unions, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), spent a combined $669 million over the past ten years.

The figure skyrockets to over $1 billion in total political spending when state and local affiliates are included, showing a growing emphasis on activism rather than education.

The United Arab Emirates is officially separating from the OPEC alliance. They declared, “During our time in the organisation, we made significant contributions and even greater sacrifices for the benefit of all. However, the time has come to focus our efforts on what our national interest dictates and our commitment to our investors, customers, partners and global energy markets. This is what we will focus on going forward.”

United Arab Emirates quits OPEC alliance www.washingtonexaminer.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday said it is exiting OPEC and the broader OPEC+ as of May 1, marking a major loss for the oil producing bloc as global energy markets remain volatile in light of the Iran war.

The UAE said it has participated in the organization for the greater global benefit, but it is leaving the group to focus on internal interests.

Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) is still trying to kill what is being called the Biden Vehicle Kill Switch. This is a requirement by the government that all car manufacturers create a vehicle kill switch that car owners cannot deactivate. So far, he has failed. This latest effort has also failed, with the Johnson-led House passing FISA renewal ahead of Thursday’s deadline.

Roy proposed an amendment to the FISA renewal act that effectively kills the Biden kill switch. Roy said, “Republicans should not be continuing a blatantly invasive Biden-era policy that enables round-the-clock monitoring of Americans in their own cars. That’s why I introduced an amendment to FISA to eliminate the ‘kill switch’ and stop this Big Brother technology from being built into new vehicles.”

Roy Pushes Amendment to End Biden Surveillance Mandate www.dailysignal.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

The vehicle kill switch may be getting another chance to be killed in Congress this week as a member of the House Rules Committee wants to repeal legislation that directs automakers to install surveillance technology on all new vehicles starting in 2027.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a committee member and influential congressman on the conservative House Freedom Caucus, says the Biden-era mandate poses “a direct threat to our Fourth Amendment rights.”

“Republicans should not be continuing a blatantly invasive Biden-era policy that enables round-the-clock monitoring of Americans in their own cars,” Roy told The Daily Signal while the possibility of the amendment was still being discussed by the Rules Committee.

“That’s why I introduced an amendment to FISA to eliminate the ‘kill switch’ and stop this Big Brother technology from being built into new vehicles.”

This is Roy’s second attempt at killing the kill switch this year.

The need for an amendment already has large support from House conservatives, including Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.; Scott Perry, R-Pa.; and Keith Self, R-Texas.

“The government should never have the ability to remotely kill your car or anything else you own,” Self told The Daily Signal. “When a group of us conservatives in the House tried to repeal this Joe Biden-era mandate set to take effect next year, 57 Republicans teamed up with 211 Democrats to stop us. That’s unacceptable.”

House passes FISA extension ahead of Thursday’s deadline – WGHN

News Source

EXCERPT:

A powerful surveillance authority that the U.S. government uses to spy on foreigners cleared the House on Wednesday, resolving one stalemate that threatened to derail its renewal before it expires this week.

It now faces hurdles in the Senate.

The controversial spy tool, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, is set to lapse Thursday. Congress approved a 10-day extension ahead of the original April 20 deadline.

After House GOP opposition forced days of delay, the lower chamber advanced the measure earlier Wednesday in a procedural vote that was held open for about two hours as leaders worked to convince holdouts to flip their votes.

The House passed the measure — which is formatted as an amendment to an unrelated bill — in a 235 to 191 vote later in the day.

Section 702, which was first authorized in 2008, allows the government to collect the communications of noncitizens located outside the U.S. without a warrant, though it can also sweep up the data of Americans who are in contact with the targeted foreigners. The FBI is able to search Americans’ data gathered through the program without a warrant.

National security officials have long argued that the law is vital for disrupting terrorist plots, foreign espionage, international drug trafficking and cyber intrusions.

If you read scripture in public that condemns homosexuality, you might soon be jailed in Canada if Canada’s latest Bill C-9 passes. The proposed law would define “harm” as making public statements protected groups would find offensive.

What Canada’s Bill C-9 will do to Christians www.lifesitenews.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

She quoted Leviticus. Now she faces prison. Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen did not incite violence. She did not threaten anyone. She simply stated what Christians have believed for 2,000 years: that certain behaviors are sinful according to Scripture. For this, she has been prosecuted, threatened, and targeted — and now watches as Canada races down the same road with Bill C-9.

This is not about one law in one country. It is about a global redefinition of “harm” that criminalizes the very act of holding traditional religious beliefs. Räsänen’s case reveals the new logic: Offense is violence. Disagreement is hate. And the state now decides which doctrines are permissible and which are punishable.

News Source
EXCERPT:

President Trump says Iran is “in a State of Collapse” and wants the Strait of Hormuz opened “as soon as possible” while talks continue.

That is the pressure point right now: Tehran wants relief, global energy markets want the waterway open, and the U.S. blockade is still being used as leverage.

Fox News highlighted Trump’s latest comments Tuesday afternoon:

Axios put Trump’s Tuesday claim in the larger negotiating picture:

Trump said Iran had told the United States it wanted the Strait of Hormuz opened quickly while it worked through a leadership crisis. The key caveat is that Tehran has not publicly confirmed Trump’s version of the message, so the claim still sits inside a live diplomatic standoff rather than a settled public agreement.

President Trump has rejected the latest proposal by Iran to continue the ceasefire, which seems to be de facto over. The Supreme Leader has allegedly emerged and promised to free the Strait of Hormuz from U.S. presence. The progressive media is casting doubts on U.S. power while Trump’s base buckles in its support for the war.

Iran’s Missing ‘Supreme Leader,’ in Written Message, Vows ‘Future Free of America’ for Strait of Hormuz www.breitbart.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

The alleged, but missing, “supreme leader” of Iran Mojtaba Khamenei reportedly issued a written message on Thursday declaring that his country will impose a “new legal framework and management system for the Strait of Hormuz” that will result in a future “free of America” in the waterway.

Khamenei’s message declared the Strait, in which Iran has for over a month attempted to endanger commercial traffic, a “divine blessing” for his nation that the Islamist terror regime takes seriously. His statement, issued on the occasion of Iran’s “National Persian Gulf Day,” also contained a commitment to continue the regime’s illicit nuclear development — the main issue that the administration of President Donald Trump is seeking to settle with Iran.

The message follows weeks of attempts to end hostilities between Iran and America that began on February 28, when the Pentagon launched Operation Epic Fury and killed Khamenei’s father, longtime brutal dictator Ali Khamenei. President Trump announced a ceasefire this month that was initially intended to last two weeks, but has since been extended indefinitely. In public statements on his website, Truth Social, President Trump has explained that the extension was necessary given the large number of senior leaders in the Iranian regime that have been killed, resulting in unclear leadership and an intense power struggle within the terror state’s government apparatus. Iranian officials have attempted to deny the discord among their ranks but also have not at press time been able to organize a coherent response to the White House’s attempts to construct a long-lasting peace agreement.

Originally published April 24, 2026 for our weekly Issue of Mindful Intelligence Advisor.  Subscribe to get weekly issues.

By Michael A. Cessna, Military Affairs Correspondent

“I think NATO is obsolete. NATO was done at a time you had the Soviet Union, which was obviously larger – much larger than Russia is today. I’m not saying Russia is not a threat. But we have other threats. We have the threat of terrorism. And NATO doesn’t discuss terrorism. NATO’s not meant for terrorism. NATO doesn’t have the right countries in it for terrorism.”President Donald J Trump

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Beginning in the first week of January 2026, US President Donald Trump launched into a high-stakes gamble, with a large number of moving parts, and a high chance of failure. The Trump administration’s Panama-styled “Operation Just Cause” takedown of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro opened the year.

Delta Force “operators” swiftly inserted themselves into the country and captured the drug-trafficking dictator and his wife, then successfully extracted them from the country. Both are now in custody in New York City on Federal drug charges.

No sooner was Maduro in custody than the Machine inside the Washington, DC Beltway turned its attention to the other side of the world.

In Iran, economic protests that began on December 28th of 2025 had suddenly morphed into a massive ‘street revolution.’

For the first time in forty-seven years, these protests seemed to have the potential to overthrow the financial lynchpin that held many of the worst terror groups in the Middle East together, keeping them in operation for far longer than they should have been.

Now, as we enter the third week of April of 2026, a massive month-long air and naval campaign – the largest the United States has conducted since the 2003 invasion of Iraq – has severely degraded the military and governmental structure of the Islamist regime in Tehran.

A. BACKGROUND

THE CLERICS – When the late Shah of Iran, Reza Muhammad Pahlavi, was forced to flee Iran in February of 1979, what had been our strongest ally in the Middle East – stronger by far than Israel at that time – suddenly, almost literally overnight, became a blood-enemy.

When the religious zealots in charge of the country led chants of “DEATH TO AMERICA!”, they meant it. This continued, even as the country was invaded by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1980, kicking off the bloodbath now known as the Iran-Iraq War.

Today, the radical Shi’a clerics controlling the country – many of them not at all Iranian – not only still chant “Death to America!” and “DEATH TO ISRAEL!”, but directly sponsor all manner of proxy terror groups throughout the Middle East.

They don’t just sponsor Hezbollah, who were the group that carried out the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983, they also sponsor Hamas, who perpetrated the gory bloodbath of the October 7 attacks in Israel.

In addition to Hamas, they’re also supporting the Houthi Movement in Yemen. These same Houthis just recently effectively closed off the Red Sea to commercial merchant vessel traffic for a time, while launching Iran-supplied SCUD-derived ballistic missiles at anyone within range.

These are the major agents of the Islamic Republic, but many other such agents, or groups, exist, albeit smaller and less capable, but no less bloodthirsty.

The clerics were able to sustain this for the last forty-odd years, because of the succession of administrations. Democrats seemed to want to appease Iran while Republicans seemed to want to simply detain, not destroy Iran.

However, Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran drove the bulk of the people on the side of the mullahs – not because the people liked the mullahs, but because they were loyal to the idea of Iran.

The blunders and missteps of these U.S. administrations, examined through a neutral lens, display either unimaginable levels of incompetence, or outright treasonous behavior; there really are no third options.

THE PROTESTS – Throughout it all, the religious zealots in Tehran have engaged in levels of open and naked corruption internally such that the Iranian Rial collapsed on December 28, 2025, to a staggering IRR 1.4 million to $1.

At the same time, corrupt regime leaders – religious, secular and military – have pushed out so many worthless dam projects, they have critically damaged the nation’s artesian water supplies.

This has led to many villages in the country’s interior being abandoned for lack of water, with the population migrating to the large cities, further increasing stress on those water systems.

The industrial sector has fared no better.

While Iran still has some level of civilian industrial production, it is hamstrung by old plant equipment and gross inefficiencies.

Car and truck manufacturing does continue, but those exports bring in only minimal revenue, under $9 million. Exports of mining and agricultural equipment, while better, have highly suspicious and unreliable sourcing, making hard figures not worth reporting.

The one area where Iranian industry has been working overtime is in the war-materials production sphere.

Iran does have the capability to manufacture battalion-organic weapons and ammunition (from handguns to mortars, heavy machine guns, light artillery and some light anti-tank missiles).

It also remains capable of at least making bespoke spare parts for things like main battle tanks and some jet aircraft (the fact that a few F-14 ‘Tomcat’ fighters left over from the Shah’s air force are still flying is frankly astounding), but the main Iranian arms export is its unmanned drone fleet.

While presented as an impressive array of remote weaponry, the regime’s drone fleet has been very underwhelming when pitted against an active and ready air defense network.

Their drone and missile exchanges with Israel in 2024 and 2025 saw Iran fire c.1800 drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in total, with fewer than fifty actually hitting close to any targets.

All the same, Iran has supplied a steady stream of its Shahed-131 and -136 drones to Russia for its long-running war in Ukraine…but significantly, Russia has to extensively modify them for use against a Ukrainian air defense network supported by U.S. and NATO air defense systems.

Lastly, there is the dilapidated state of Iran’s oil production industry. Iran, as of 2026, is no longer able to refine the oil that emerges from its own fields. It can pump raw crude to tankers for export, but it has to import refined fuels for all of its internal vehicles and aircraft.

Decades of mismanagement, corruption, lack of internal investment and an inability to maintain the physical plant have severely hampered Iran’s ability to push out oil, which is the country’s main financial lifeline.

B. CURRENT SITUATION

BEFORE EPIC FURY – After an initial period of confusion and fear inside the Islamic regimes’ leadership over what to do about the mass protests throughout the nation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Basiji Militia adjunct moved into the streets in forces, and commenced a series of massacres across the country.

Concentrated on January 8 and 9, and continuing throughout January, the numbers of dead Iranian civilians could be somewhere around 40-45,000 people, conservatively.

In a direct response, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and its escorting strike group were ordered to the vicinity of the Arabian Sea, adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz, in mid-January. It was here that the first danger point appeared.

As of January 1, 2026, the United States had only two out of eleven aircraft carriers and their strike groups ready to deploy. The Lincoln was in the South China Sea, while the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and its strike group were operating in the Caribbean, overseeing operations against Maduro’s Venezuelan regime and keeping an eye on Cuba (which is still a developing situation).

All of the other nine carriers were in various states of maintenance; only the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) were “active”, in that they were in the process of “work-ups” – the process of ensuring that all of the many working components of a carrier strike group are functional and capable of working together – but were weeks from being available for deployment. The USS Eisenhower (CVN 69), in January, was still five or six months from being able to deploy.

This is a critical fail-point that had been building since the defense budget sequestrations of the Obama-era. Severe cuts had to be made to comply, which caused a long-term backlog in critical maintenance required to keep ships in fighting order to begin backing up.

This was aggravated by the Biden administration’s COVID-19 workplace restrictions, which had the immediate effect of delaying the refueling of the USS Stennis’ (CVN 74) nuclear refueling, extending a process that should have taken two years out to five; Stennis is not expected to leave the fueling process until the end of 2026.

This has obviously cut severely into deployment schedules, as the USS Ford – as of April 15, 2026, has been at sea in an operational posture for over 296 days, breaking a record set during the Vietnam War. This is brutal pace for both ship and crew.

This was the prelude to combat operations commencing on February 28th. Even given the terrible posture of the United States Military, the surge of air and naval forces into the region that began in earnest at the end of January was remarkable.

OPERATION EPIC FURY – When “Operation Epic Fury” (or “Operation Roaring Lion” for Israel) commenced on February 28th, US and Israeli forces – to the surprise only of those with no concept of reality – began to destroy Iran’s military and political structure in detail.

The Iranian navies (the regular national navy, as well as the IRGC ‘mosquito fleet’ of armed speedboats) ceased to exist within the first week. This led to the sinking of the 1,500-ton Moudge-class frigate IRIS Dena on March 4th by the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Charlotte. This was the first sinking of a hostile vessel by a US Navy warship with a torpedo in combat since World War 2.

In the air, US and Israeli planes hammered the Islamic Republic’s command and control structure with an opening of some 1,500 reported strikes on government and military targets, including the first successful “decapitation strike” – the direct targeting of a nation’s leadership – since the term was coined in the popular vernacular in the 1980’s/

That strike apparently killed the “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, some parliamentary officials and several senior IRGC commanders.

The regime responded with a massive barrage of ballistic missile and drone attacks on almost every country within range. While most of the strikes aimed at Israel failed to hit many targets of consequence, some strikes did get through, hitting and damaging mostly civilian housing complexes.

In the Persian Gulf, however, the Gulf Emirates and their populations – previously quiet supporters of the Tehran regime – suddenly discovered why that was a very poor choice of friends.

The regime in Tehran (such as that is, since it remains unclear who, exactly, is in charge, as of April 23rd) began firing barrages of Shahed drones at seemingly random targets in all of the Gulf Emirates, including Oman.

While a few military targets associated with the United States were hit, the vast majority of the drone strikes hit residential areas not associated with the US in any way. The attacks continued after the ceasefire began on April 8th.

At sea, with most of the Iranian Navy[s] sunk at anchor, or in suicidal sorties against US forces, on April 20th, the USN disabled, boarded and captured the Iran-flagged M/V TOUSKA in the Arabian Sea after it refused to halt its attempt to enter Iranian ports. Board-and-stop operations continue as this Deep Dive goes to print.

Diplomatically, Operation Epic Fury has brought the fundamental cracks in the NATO alliance into stark focus. Once stalwart allies like Britain and France have refused, point blank, to aid the United States in any way against Tehran, with Leftist-controlled Spain joining in, the whole value of NATO to the U.S. seems to crumble.

Notably, those three countries lack the combat power to aid the US in any way beyond acting as unsinkable aircraft carriers.

C. ASSESSMENT

As of publication, the facts on the ground are clear and stark:

There is no path to victory for the Islamic Revolutionary regime.

Even if Donald Trump commits political suicide by ending Operation Epic Fury prematurely, and unilaterally withdrawing U.S. combat forces from the Persian Gulf Theater, the regime in Tehran has been fatally compromised by combat operations to date.

They have lost too many experienced leaders – those capable of holding down the tensions and rivalries between the various factions of their state – too many physical assets, as their air force, in addition to their navy, is now functionally non-existent.

Even their oil production capacity has been so badly damaged, it is effectively a non-entity in contributing to Iranian state revenues…and that’s before addressing the looming water crisis.

Where Iran had been the major proxy supporter of terror groups throughout the Middle East, they can no longer do so: their internal currency is worthless, and with the current loss of oil revenue, they have no meaningful way to pay for their mercenaries imported from Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq.

This is the trap Machiavelli warned about in The Prince – but then, Machiavelli was an infidel…that rather limits one’s educational options.

And that opens the door to the real endgame.

D. RECOMMENDATIONS

If I were President Trump, I would lean into “staying the course”. The midterms are approaching in November of 2026 and right now, Trump is already facing enough setbacks.

Backing out with a lame deal that leaves the Islamic Revolutionary apparatus in place, even as a rump, would be a major blunder on his part. It would only compound his growing issues at home. A victory, however, in due time, will buoy his flagging support.

If there is one thing to understand about Donald J. Trump, it is that assuming that he will make some colossally stupid blunder is the surest route to handing him a huge win.

However – no one is perfect, and there is always the chance that Trump could decide that continuing to pound the regime is approaching a zero-sum state, and that withdrawing under an agreement is a good strategy. That seems unlikely, but not improbable.

PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS

As of Friday, April 24th, the regime in Tehran – what is left of it – will fail to placate Trump, sparking a massive internal collapse (which is already in progress), and a renewed air offensive that will destroy what little coherent leadership and logistics infrastructure remains under regime control.

The secondary impacts will shape the region for the next century.

Trump’s ploy with the ceasefire – which he must have supposed even an intact regime in Tehran would not be able to adhere to – was more to allow US combat forces to rest and refit for the resumption of combat operations.

While the U.S. rests and re-arms, the regime is not able to do the same. The regime is unable to dig itself out of the rubble and repair its infrastructure for the next round.

When this second hammer comes down in full, the regime will lose the ability to sustain supply to its remaining military strength – the light infantry forces of the IRGC, the Basiji Militia, and their foreign mercenaries – with basic supplies, like rifle and machine gun ammunition…

…Which is the point at which the Iranian Street will reemerge, as it did in the first week of January. But this time, instead of peaceful protestors, the regime’s debilitated forces will face an aroused and enraged civilian population, intent on bloody revenge for the January massacres. It will get very ugly, very fast.

This would be a very dangerous situation, if there were no transitional government waiting in the wings

In Iran’s case, there is a real exile government in all but name, waiting to step in: the Iran Prosperity Project (IPP).

POST-CLERICS – Led by Crown Prince Reza II Pahlavi, the IPP is the only organization in the greater Iranian Diaspora that has an actual plan for national recovery and governance.

Despite relentless propaganda from the worldwide Left-wing media, most Iranians in and outside of Iran support Pahlavi as at least a transitional leader.

Some are even calling for him to take the Imperial throne outright. This is not hyperbole, and the movement is not insignificant.

Videos of Iranians shot down in the streets of the country writing “JAVID SHAH!” (“Long Live the King!”) on the walls in their own blood create a visual representation of how real and profound that sentiment is.

The “ripple effect” of the regime’s collapse, however, looks to be closer to a global tsunami than a ripple.

Aside from the aforementioned impact in cutting off funding to terror groups and movements like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis – which, alone, would reshape the Middle East – there would be an immediate cessation of support and sales to Russia. While this would not be a a huge impact on the Russian war effort, it would yet be impactful, nonetheless. The real impact is far greater than this.

NATO – Donald Trump and the main movers and shakers in his administration are done with Europe in general, and NATO, in particular…and what Europe is only now beginning to realize, is that the vast majority of the American people – and the voters – are done with them as well.

For decades, NATO member nations have left the United States and its taxpayers holding the bag to pay for European defense, offering only tepid support – at best – when the United States committed troops and cash in operations that directly benefited them.

And now, they have refused, point-blank, to help the United States finally deal with a criminal regime responsible for terror attacks on their own soil.

What is the track record of the “Orange Man Is Always Bad” global leader crowd? Nations that fit that bill, nations like Britain, France and Spain – have shown just how feckless and corrupt their leadership really is.

BRITAIN – Britain has allowed its military to deteriorate to the point that it is unable to “surge” a single warship to protect its own territories in the Mediterranean.

Keir Starmer should be deliriously happy that Javier Milei is in charge of Argentina, as Milei wants nothing to do with the Falklands.

Looking deeper, the once-mighty Royal Navy now has about twenty-five combat vessels in commission, with another thirty or so support vessels. They have one hundred and thirty-four (134 – not a typo) admirals on active duty. This ratio makes the Republic of South Africa’s 27 admirals for 12 ocean-capable ships appear downright efficient in comparison.

And coupled to this, is the degradation of the British Army, with many of their top tier forces losing personnel to what some might consider lawfare. Members of the SAS (Special Air Service) have been facing prosecution for “crimes” supposedly committed during “The Troubles” in Ireland.

These service members face prosecution based on EU human rights laws ex post facto, including possible “violations” in Afghanistan and Syria, in the form of political point-scoring many would simply call “lawfare”.

FRANCE – In contrast to Britain, France does have about one hundred ships in commission, including roughly thirty combat vessels. The current French political leadership, however, is more dysfunctional than Britain’s, although that may be changing in the aftermath of Emil Macron’s disastrous handling of French relations in Africa.

SPAIN – Meanwhile, Spain – although having a similar-sized navy to France, including minesweeping vessels that would be critical to clearing the Strait of Hormuz – is buried under yet another Leftist government that opposes “Trump-anything” on general principles.

CONCLUSION

The “Trumpian Trap”, here, is that the United States and Israel do not actually need Anglo-French-Spanish support to make Epic Fury work.

Trump asked for help from NATO and the various allied members individually, betting that they would refuse, publicly and messily…which they did. This is the leverage Trump can now use to present unilaterally exiting NATO to the American public, if he chooses to do so, post-EPIC FURY.

It’s not whether a nation has tools, but whether they will use them to aid you when you ask politely for help.

Europe is still quaking in terror at the thought of an all-out Russian invasion of Western Europe, should Ukraine collapse…and is only now starting to grasp that they have abandoned their own national defense – both internal and external – for so long, that alienating the only nation actually capable of defending them, was almost literally “cutting off their nose to spite their face”.

England needs an Alfred the Great. France needs a Charles Martel. Spain needs an El Cid…What they have are Starmer, Macron and Sanchez. But at least the United States has its own Charlemagne, warts and all.

And this is only early 2026, remember – Donald Trump’s term will not end until January of 2029.

FURTHER RESOURCES:

Deterring Armageddon: A Biography of NATO – Peter Apps

NATO: The Dangerous Dinosaur – Ted Carpenter

Iran: A Modern History – Abbas Amanat

The Ayatollahs and the MEK: Iran’s Crumbling Influence Operation – Lincoln P. Bloomfield

By STAFF

This digest covers political, world, cultural, market, and sci-tech news from April 1-16, 2026.

This digest contains the Global Outlook, Headlines Missed, and People Advance Report.

TOP NEWS TAGS

  1. Trump Dinner Shooter
  2. Iran War
  3. 2026 Elections
  4. Trump Deportations
  5. Trump King Charles Visit

GLOBAL OUTLOOK

  1. COMEY’S 86 47 GETS INDICTEDThe Department of Justice has garnered two new indictments targeting former FBI Director James Comey. The indictments are connected to a social media post by Comey that showed seashells on the beach laid out to signal “86 47.” One charge is “knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of — and to inflict bodily harm on — the president.” The second charge is “knowingly and willfully transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to kill the president.”
  2. CHARLES STEALTH BOMBS TRUMP IN CONGRESS – Using extremely veiled language, Charles III, King of Britian, appeared to tell the U.S. congress Trump should end the war in Iran and stop deportations. Progressives tend to agree with this assessment, claiming Charles “owned” Trump in front of congress.

This is our interpretation after reading between the two clear focal points of his speech, diversity and religious tolerance, both target Trump deportations of immigrants and his war on Islamist Iran.

HEADLINES MISSED

  1. MALI BUCKLES, RUSSIA WITHDRAWSAfter Islamists led a successful offensive across Mali, Russian forces withdrew, while junta forces failed to stop the assaults. Not only did the Islamists successfully disrupt multiple cities, but they also killed the country’s defense minister and gained territory in northern areas. The assault puts the junta’s power in jeopardy, especially given Russia’s disengagement.
  2. CHINA’S MANTUS CUT OFF FROM U.S. PURCHASE China has made a decisive move in the emerging AI race and war with the U.S., halting the purchase of a Chinese-created AI-agent company called Manus. The purchaser was the U.S.’s Meta. China did not offer an explanation, though it reflect AI nationalization trends both in China and in general.

PEOPLE ADVANCE

  1. TWO BIGS GERRYMANDER WINS FOR GOP – The Virginia Supreme Court continues to refuse to certify the special election that saw the Progressives win the “right” to use gerrymandering to eliminate 4 GOP U.S. House Seats. SCOTUS has confirmed the Texas gerrymander map that switches 5 Democrat-held seats to 5 likely GOP seats. In Florida, a gerrymander plan is advancing in the legislature that would net the GOP 4 more seats in the U.S. House.
  2. AI CREATES 1K JOBS AT SALESFORCE – Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced online plans to hire 1000 new college graduates to drive the “exponential” potential of AI. He said in his X post, “… they said AI would kill entry-level jobs. Meanwhile these grads & interns are building it.”

Top Tracking

 

On Our Radar

The Department of Justice has garnered two new indictments targeting former FBI Director James Comey. The indictments are connected to a social media post by Comey that showed seashells on the beach laid out to signal “86 47.” One charge is “knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of — and to inflict bodily harm on — the president.” The second charge is “knowingly and willfully transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to kill the president.”

Comey indicted again on charges stemming from Instagram post www.cbsnews.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

Washington — A federal grand jury indicted former FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday for allegedly making threats against the president, marking the second time he will be prosecuted by President Trump’s Justice Department.

The indictment charges Comey with two counts: knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of — and to inflict bodily harm on — the president, and second, knowingly and willfully transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to kill the president. CBS News reported that Comey was facing charges again hours before the indictment was issued.

Using extremely veiled language, Charles III, King of Britian, appeared to tell the U.S. congress Trump should end the war in Iran and stop deportations. Progressives tend to agree with this assessment, claiming Charles “owned” Trump in front of congress.

This is our interpretation after reading between the two clear focal points of his speech, diversity and religious tolerance, both target Trump deportations of immigrants and his war on Islamist Iran.

Here are the key passages that we believe reveal this:

They carried with them and carried forward the great inheritance of the British Enlightenment, as well as the ideals which had an even deeper history in English common law and Magna Carta…

“Distinguished members of the 119th Congress, it is here in these very halls that this spirit of liberty and the promise of America’s founders is present in every session and every vote cast not by the will of one, but by the deliberation of many, representing the living mosaic of the United States in both of our countries.

It is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse and free societies that gives us our collective strength, including to support victims of some of the ills that so tragically exist in both our societies today.”

“And Mr. Speaker, for many here and for myself, the Christian faith is a firm anchor and daily inspiration that guides us not only personally, but together as members of our community. Having devoted a large part of my life to interfaith relationships and greater understanding, it is that faith in the triumph of light over darkness which I have found confirmed countless times.”

“I am mindful that we are still in the season of Easter, the season that most strengthens my hope. It is why I believe with all my heart that the essence of our two nations is a generosity of spirit and a duty to foster compassion, to promote peace, to deepen mutual understanding, and to value all people of all faiths and of none.”

Read the full transcript of King Charles III’s speech to U.S. Congress – National globalnews.ca
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EXCERPT:

King Charles III addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, where he marked the 250th anniversary of American independence and reaffirmed the “special relationship” between the U.K. and U.S. amid bilateral and global tensions.

Charles, who was in the U.S. for a four-day state visit, is just the second British monarch to address Congress after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, delivered a similar speech in 1991.

Here is a full transcript of the King’s speech:

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of Congress, representatives of the American people across all states, territories, cities and communities.

I would like, if I may, to take this opportunity to express my particular gratitude to you all for the great honour of addressing this joint meeting of Congress, and on behalf of the Queen and myself, to thank the American people for welcoming us to the United States to mark this semi-quincentennial year of the Declaration of Independence.

After Islamists led a successful offensive across Mali, Russian forces withdrew, while junta forces failed to stop the assaults. Not only did the Islamists successfully disrupt multiple cities, but they also killed the country’s defense minister and gained territory in northern areas. The assault puts the junta’s power in jeopardy, especially given Russia’s disengagement.

What next for Mali’s military leaders after shock of rebel offensive? – BBC news.google.com
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It is hard to overstate the sense of shock reverberating across West Africa after attackers, in co-ordinated assaults, managed to enter Mali’s capital, Bamako, assassinate the defence minister and seize control of northern areas.

Residents in different cities across the country woke to gunfire and explosions on Saturday – attacks which an alliance of two groups – the separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and the al-Qaeda-linked JNIM group – said they were behind.

The scale of the offensive and the withdrawal of Malian and Russian forces from the northern city of Kidal, now under FLA control, have fuelled doubts about the strength of the military government led by Col Assimi Goïta, who came to power in a coup in August 2020.

It has taken Goïta several days to make an appearance since the offensive, prompting questions about the junta’s future, as well as the role of Russian forces deployed in Mali and neighbouring countries to tackle the security threat.

  1. What next for Mali’s military leaders after shock of rebel offensive?  BBC
  2. Mali military leader Goita emerges as Russia declares it halted coup  Al Jazeera
  3. Mali leader says situation under control in first speech since attacks  Reuters
  4. Mali Rebels Strike Major Blow Against Junta and Russia’s Africa Corps  The New York Times
  5. Major blow to Putin in Africa as Russian forces driven from Mali stronghold by separatists, jihadists  Fox News

 

China has made a decisive move in the emerging AI race and war with the U.S., halting the purchase of a Chinese-created AI-agent company called Manus. The purchaser was the U.S.’s Meta. China did not offer an explanation, though it reflect AI nationalization trends both in China and in general.

China blocks Meta’s $2 billion Manus AI acquisition after regulatory scrutiny – Firstpost
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EXCERPT:

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has blocked Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of Manus, an agentic startup founded by Chinese engineers. The move by the NDRC is one of the most significant interventions in a cross-border deal, one that extends well beyond US-China tensions and into the broader AI industry.

The commission issued no explanation and ordered both parties to unwind the deal completely. Reports suggest the decision could be a serious blow to Meta and its fast-moving AI agents strategy, since almost 100 Manus employees had already moved into Meta’s Singapore offices and taken on executive roles. The unwinding could therefore cause major disruption between the two companies.

There were three big wins this month for the Republicans in the Gerrymandering Wars that culminated with a major SCOTUS ruling on race-based gerrymandering.

First, the Virginia Supreme Court continues to refuse to certify the special election that saw the Progressives win the “right” to use gerrymandering to eliminate 4 GOP U.S. House Seats.

Second, SCOTUS has confirmed the Texas gerrymander map that switches 5 Democrat-held seats to 5 likely GOP seats. In Florida, a gerrymander plan is advancing in the legislature that would net the GOP 4 more seats in the U.S. House.

Third, SCOTUS has struck down race-based gerrymandered districts in a move that is existentially threatening to the Democrat Party in its current iteration.

SCOTUS Protects Rule of Law By Gutting Racial Gerrymandering thefederalist.com
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The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 bombshell ruling gutting the discriminatory practice of racial gerrymandering in the redistricting process. The 6-3 majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, found unconstitutional the twisting of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by courts “to engage in the very race-based discrimination that the Constitution forbids.”

“It’s been a good week” for the rule of law, election law expert Hans von Spakovsky told The Federalist following the SCOTUS ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.

Supreme Court Gives Republicans a Much-Needed Redistricting Win with Texas Ruling www.westernjournal.com
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The Supreme Court reinstated Texas’s redrawn congressional map Monday, resulting in a huge win for Republicans, which could help them keep control of Congress.

The map was originally redrawn in August 2025 at the behest of President Donald Trump to add up to five additional House seats for the GOP as they head into a critical midterm election cycle this November.

It was instantly met with legal challenges, with a lower court issuing an injunction blocking the new map.

In December, the Supreme Court stepped in and issued a stay, keeping the map in place until a final ruling could be issued.

The justices initially faulted the lower court for committing “serious errors,” the main one being that it “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith by constructing ambiguous direct and circumstantial evidence against the legislature.”

Monday’s 6-3 vote reversing the lower court ruling fell along ideological lines, with the conservative justices ruling in the state’s favor, and the three liberal justices dissenting, according to Reuters.

 

VA Supreme Court Denies Emergency Appeal From AG Jay Jones To Certify Gerrymander Election – theroanokestar.com
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EXCERPT:

On April 28, the State Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal from Attorney General Jay Jones to certify the ballots from the April 21 yes/no gerrymandering election. This means, instead of the high court now greenlighting an acceptance of the results from the controversial election, they will continue to deliberate before issuing their opinion, thus keeping the final result unknown for now.

As reported here, on April 21, a preponderance of late-reporting “yes” votes from Fairfax County pushed the “yes” side to victorywith a margin somewhat over 80,000.