April 19, 2026

x01c Top Archives

Blurb:

President Donald Trump has stated that he does not believe Ukraine carried out a drone strike targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence last week, pushing back on claims made by Moscow.

“I don’t believe that strike happened,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling from Florida to Washington.

“There is something that happened fairly nearby, but had nothing to do with this.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on Dec. 29 that Kyiv launched 91 drones toward Putin’s residence in Novgorod, and that all drones were destroyed. Ukraine denied the allegation.

Blurb:

 

California has delayed its cancellation of thousands of commercial driver’s licenses held by migrants, setting it up for another showdown with Washington.

The Department of Motor Vehicles announced on Tuesday that the 17,000 migrant truck drivers whose licenses had been revoked can now keep them for 60 more days, which could enable the drivers to retake tests and do whatever is necessary to remain legal.

“Commercial drivers are an important part of our economy — our supply chains don’t move, and our communities don’t stay connected without them,” said DMV Director Steve Gordon in a statement after the extension.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reacted by threatening to cut $160 million in federal funding to California if the state doesn’t meet the Jan. 5 deadline to revoke unvetted foreign trucker licenses.

Blurb:

The US military struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats over two days, killing a total of eight people while others jumped overboard and may have survived, US Southern Command said in a social media post on Thursday.

Southern Command, which oversees South America, did not reveal where the attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday occurred.

Previous similar attacks have taken place in the Caribbean Sea and in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Blurb:

Pro-abortion medical students decided to reign in the new year in the most disgusting, vile, and satanic way possible — by filming themselves smiling as they practice child sacrifice on tomatoes.

Medical Students for Choice posted the footage to social media platform TikTok on Tuesday, captioning the event — from Portland, Oregon — “The type of energy we’re bringing into 2026:”

The brief clip shows students practicing abortions as the tomatoes are put where a baby’s head would be.

@msfchoice Abortion and family planning training should be a standard part of every medical school curriculum. Across the world, MSFC student leaders are advocating to provide abortion care and create change in the medical field on their campuses. With your support, we’re carrying this work forward. A donation to MSFC helps the next generation of providers has the skills and support they need. Donate now through the in our bio, and be part of what comes next! #medstudent #medschool #futuredoctor #reproductivehealth #abortionaccess ♬ original sound – ☀️

Blurb:

Elon Musk issued a stark public warning after a viral TikTok livestream appeared to show a Somali user making a chilling remark about his life, prompting concern and backlash across social media.

The viral clip shows an unidentified TikTok user livestreaming while playing a video of Musk on her phone.

After speaking in Somali, she briefly switched to English and said:

“I wouldn’t worry too much about him. He about to die.”

Blurb:

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted in an interview on Sunday (Jan 4) that he will complete his five-year term amid speculation his centre-left Labour Party could oust him after the upcoming local elections.

Starmer, who won power in July 2024, also argued Britain should pursue further alignment with the EU single market, saying it was in the country’s “national interest” to get “closer” to the bloc.

A decade after Britons voted narrowly to leave the EU, the stance is likely to draw criticism from Brexit advocates like Nigel Farage, whose hard-right Reform UK party has led in the polls for the past year.

Blurb:

Around 45,000 households were left without electricity in southwest Berlin after high-voltage power lines were damaged by a fire, which authorities have described as a politically motivated attack by far-left extremists.

Though power has been restored in some areas, thousands could be left without power until Thursday after what authorities say was a politically motivated attack by “left-wing extremists”.

The blaze erupted on a cable bridge over the Teltow Canal near the Lichterfelde power plant on Saturday morning, local authorities said, affecting 2,200 businesses and 45,000 households across four districts, cutting their access to electricity, including internet and heating.

Blurb:

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung is set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping as he seeks to reset frayed ties with his country’s biggest trading partner.

Regional security and Beijing’s unofficial ban on Korean pop culture are also on the agenda for Monday’s meeting, which is their second summit since November, when Xi visited South Korea.

Given what a vital economic partner China is, experts say Lee is looking for assurances that it would not weaponise that relationship in the face of political tensions in the region.

Blurb:

The Senate passed a huge, $901 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Wednesday on a 77-20 vote, sending the measure to President Trump’s desk. The bipartisan package comes in at more than 3,000 pages and checks off several boxes on the president’s to-do list, including a pay raise of nearly four percent for military service members, improved military housing, a codification of Trump’s order to end DEI efforts at the Pentagon, and a restriction on U.S. investment in China.

Two Republicans, Sens. Mike Lee (UT) and Rand Paul (KY), voted no, while 18 Democrats also opposed it.

Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee were stoked:

✔️ensure @POTUS has sufficient military options.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on the Senate floor Tuesday that it would make America stronger:

This NDAA will make the most significant reforms to the way the Pentagon does business in a generation. These reforms will make our military stronger, more agile and more ready for whatever the mission may be, and that needs to be our mission here — to do whatever it takes to support American soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and guardians.

Armed Service Committee Chair Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) echoed President Trump’s (and Ronald Reagan’s) mantra, “peace through strength”:

Blurb:

Former special counsel Jack Smith told members of Congress that his team had evidence that President Donald Trump tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Smith’s case against the president began when former Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed him to lead two Justice Department investigations into Trump: the mishandling of classified documents and his post-2020 election conduct.

From The Associated Press:

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door interview on Wednesday that his team of investigators “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump had criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to portions of his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press.

He also said investigators had accrued “powerful evidence” that Trump broke the law by hoarding classified documents from his first term as president at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and by obstructing government efforts to recover the records.

Blurb:

British authorities sentenced a Dorset man to 18 months in jail for inciting hate and violence on X in the heated aftermath of the 2024 Southport stabbings that left three children dead and another 10 people injured.

Luke Yarwood’s posts were viewed a total of 33 times before being taken down. If I’ve done my math correctly, that’s nearly 17 days of jail time per view. If I know anything about people, half of those views were Yarwood checking his mentions.

There’s no denying the nasty nature of Yarwood’s posts, sent to X before the identity of the killer — 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana — was known, but was widely misreported to have been a Muslim immigrant. Rudakubana was born in Cardiff, but his parents were evangelical immigrants from Rwanda.

Yarwood’s posts called for “slaughter in the streets” of Muslims and encouraged people to “Head for the hotels housing them and burn them to the ground.”

Blurb:

Former President Joe Biden has lost a battle in his effort to limit the investigation into the use of the autopen during his presidency.

Biden had contacted the National Archives in an effort to claim executive privilege over certain documents, but the Trump administration turned down the request Tuesday, Fox News has reported.

“I am concerned that disclosure of these materials would damage important institutional interests of the Presidency, including by impairing the ability of future Presidents to receive robust, candid advice from their close advisers,” Biden said in an Oct. 1 letter to the Archival Operations Division of the National Archives and Records Administration

Blurb:

 

President Donald Trump added countries to a list that restricts nationals from traveling to the U.S.

“The United States must exercise extreme vigilance during the visa-issuance and immigration processes to identify, prior to their admission or entry into the United States, foreign nationals who intend to harm Americans or our national interests,” Trump declared. “The United States Government must ensure that admitted aliens do not intend to threaten its citizens; undermine or destabilize its culture, government, institutions, or founding principles; or advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security.”

The move comes days after two terrorists killed 16 people celebrating Hanukkah in Sydney, Australia.

Blurb:

The FBI did not believe it had probable cause to raid President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in 2022, but did it anyway after pressure from then-President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, according to newly uncovered emails.

Emails released by Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office show that officials at the FBI and DOJ communicated about FBI concerns about the warrant in the months leading up to the August raid.

In one June 1 email an unidentified FBI assistant special agent in charge wrote to FBI official Anthony Riedlinger, “Very little has been developed related to who might be culpable for mishandling the documents.”

“[FBI Washington Field Office] has been drafting a Search Warrant affidavit related to these potential boxes, but has some concerns that the information is single source, has not been corroborated, and may be dated. DOJ CES opines, however, that the SWs meet the probable cause standard.” The same agent described the “potential boxes” as “presumably of the same type as were sent back to NARA [National Archives and Records Administration] in January.”

Blurb:

A growing number of ultra-wealthy Chinese nationals are turning to U.S. surrogates to have children on American soil, taking advantage of America’s largely unregulated market and birthright citizenship, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

In one such case, Chinese video game billionaire Xu Bo has sought parental rights for at least four unborn children in Los Angeles, having already fathered or arranged surrogacy for at least eight additional children, according to the WSJ. The trend coincides with intensifying debates over the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of U.S. citizenship for anyone born in the country, a policy the Trump administration has sought to reinterpret.

Blurb:

At least 15 people were murdered at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Australia on Sunday after two alleged Islamic terrorists opened fire.

One of the suspects, Sajid Akram, moved to Australia in 1998 on a student visa before becoming a permanent resident, while his son, Naveed Akram, was born in Australia, according to Sky News. Authorities previously investigated the son “on the basis of being associated with” alleged terrorists, but authorities ultimately determined “there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,” according to the report.

Blurb:

The second student who was killed over the weekend in the tragic Brown University mass shooting has just been identified.

MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman who dreamed of becoming a brain surgeon, lost his life on Saturday.

Blurb:

The largest gain in jobs was in the healthcare sector, with 46,000 jobs added.

The US economy added 64,000 jobs in November, beating economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate has remained little changed from September, at 4.6 percent for the year’s penultimate month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed on Tuesday. The release of November’s jobs report was delayed due to the government shutdown that went from October 1 through November 12, and the October jobs report was not released due to the shutdown.

The largest gain in jobs was in the healthcare sector, with 46,000 jobs added. Of that total, 24,000 were in ambulatory health care services, 11,000 were in hospitals, and 11,000 were in nursing and residential care facilities. Construction saw 28,000 jobs added, and 18,000 jobs were added in social assistance. Transportation and warehousing saw a decrease in 18,000 jobs. The BLS noted that the federal government went down by 6,000 jobs, with a total of federal government employment going down by 271,000 since January.

Blurb:

A few days ago, Attorney General Pam Bondi dropped a bombshell press release about U.S. anti-discrimination law. 

“Disparate impact” is effectively dead. 

“The prior ‘disparate impact’ regulations encouraged people to file lawsuits challenging racially neutral policies, without evidence of intentional discrimination,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the release. “Our rejection of this theory will restore true equality under the law by requiring proof of actual discrimination, rather than enforcing race- or sex-based quotas or assumptions.”

The Justice Department will essentially deprioritize discrimination cases that rely on “disparate impact” under this new standard.  

Most of the media ignored the announcement. But Politico regurgitated left-wing talking points, asserting in a supposedly straight news story that the move “end[s] long-standing civil rights policies that prohibit local governments and organizations that receive federal funding from maintaining policies that disproportionately harm people of color.” They added it “will make it harder to challenge potential bias in housing, criminal law, employment, environmental regulations and other policy areas.”

Blurb:

Voters are warming up to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and some of his left-wing policy priorities, according to a Siena University poll released Tuesday.

Mamdani, a self avowed socialist, achieved a 46% favorability rating across New York state, marking an increase from his 40% favorable rating last month, according to the new poll. Meanwhile, by a 49-32% margin, up from 45-39% in November, voters statewide think that Mamdani‘s Nov. 4 mayoral victory will be good for New York City, per the poll. 

Among New York City voters alone, 66% said Mamdani’s election will be good for the city, while 25% said it is bad for the city, according to the poll. This marks an increase from in November, when 57% said his being elected was a good thing for the city and 26% said it was a bad thing, the poll shows.

“Enjoy the honeymoon, Mayor-elect Mamdani,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement. “Two-thirds of Democrats across the state view him favorably. Independent voters are now leaning favorably by six points, while they were six points on the unfavorable side in November. And while he’s viewed favorably in New York City, 61-23%, voters outside the City, who were decidedly negative toward him last month, are now close to breakeven.”

Blurb:

 

The last time I reported on the hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand, President Donald Trump was planning to call officials from both nations to try to salvage the summer cease-fire.

Unfortunately, there was no deal, and the conflict appears no closer to ending; Cambodia officially closed its border to Thailand this weekend.

The move comes as border clashes between the Southeast Asian nations have continued, despite US President Donald Trump saying Friday that they had agreed to a ceasefire.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia has decided to fully suspend all entry and exit movements at all Cambodia-Thailand border crossings, effective immediately and until further notice,” the Cambodian Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The announcement comes after Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said that his country would keep up military strikes on Cambodia until it no longer felt under threat from its neighbor, telling local media there was no ceasefire in place.

Blurb:

Five months ago, in these pages I expressed concern that Congress was missing the opportunity to restore merit to the military personnel system. To accomplish that task I urged Congress to include a meritocracy provision in the 2026 NDAA that does four things: (1) require all military personnel actions to be based exclusively on merit; (2) forbid race and sex-based preferences; (3) provide for reasonable exceptions when mission success requires sex or race be considered; and (4) define key terms so idealogues in the Pentagon cannot manipulate the language to further their diversity agenda.

When the House and Senate passed their versions of the NDAA, it appeared that between the two chambers some progress toward establishing a merit-based personnel system was being made. When the compromise bill resolving the differences between the House and Senate version, S. 1017, was released last week, it was readily apparent that Congress had no intention of requiring merit principles to govern military personnel actions. To make matters worse, the drafters employed smoke and mirrors to put a merit-sounding title on a provision that just reinforces the Biden-era identity preference status quo.