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Western countries have agreed not to transfer some types of weapons to Ukraine so as not to be drawn into a war with Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron said. It was reported by Ukrinform on Thursday, June 16. Macron confirmed that Western countries are afraid to supply Ukraine with some types of weapons. "You are talking about an informal agreement, but this is almost the official position of NATO partners that we help Ukraine defend itself, but do not go to war with Russia. Therefore, certain weapons, such as assault aircraft or tanks, were agreed not to be supplied, and...

US shoe company Skechers has had a batch of its products manufactured in China seized by US customs, which cited the so-called Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the Global Times learned from sources. In order to appeal to the US customs, Skechers organized an independent investigation conducted by a third party, which found no evidence to support so-called forced labor allegations. In December, 2021, US President Joe Biden signed a legislation titled the "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act," which bans products made in China's Xinjiang, citing "oppression" of the Uygur and other minority populations. The new law creates a "rebuttable...

A former senior counsel to President Donald Trump says the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race is the “most important in the country” because it could set the tone for how election integrity measures are applied across the United States. Trump-backed Doug Mastriano, a Republican state senator and vocal proponent of election integrity, is facing off against state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in a closely-watched governor’s race in November. If elected, Mastriano would oversee improvements in the state’s electoral system that will trigger a ripple effect across the rest of the country, according to the GOP nominee’s newly-appointed senior counsel Jenna Ellis. “I...

Belgian bishop asks pope not to make him a cardinalVATICAN CITY (CNS) — Saying he did not want to add to the suffering of survivors of clerical sexual abuse who criticized his appointment as a cardinal, retired Bishop Lucas Van Looy of Ghent, Belgium, asked Pope Francis to withdraw his nomination, and the pope agreed.The Belgian bishops’ conference issued a statement June 16 announcing the decision and thanking Bishop Van Looy for making the request.Pope Francis’ announcement May 29 that Bishop Van Looy would be among the 21 cardinals he intended to create Aug. 27, the statement said, “provoked many...

Harvard Law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe said Thursday on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” that former President Donald Trump attempted to murder Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, 2021. Burnett asked, “From everything you have seen so far, including the hearing today that focused so much on Trump causing violence against Pence, do you believe the committee has proven that Trump himself knowingly committed crimes?”

President Biden appeared to get defensive when asked during a Thursday interview if his energy policies were to blame for inflation. "We’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation," Biden said, pointing to 3.6% unemployment rate and America’s relatively strong standing in the world. Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy pressed White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later Thursday to explain Biden’s inflation comments, noting that the U.S. has higher inflation than Germany, France, Japan, Canada, India, Italy, and Saudi Arabia.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke on the Senate floor about his proposed Budget resolution. Remarks... [15 mins]

American energy is suffering from a lack of longterm investment, which temporary fixes cannot alleviate, global head of commodities at Goldman Sachs Jeff Currie said on Thursday. Downplaying the Ukrainian war’s impact on oil prices, Currie said soaring energy prices are due to a lack of U.S. investment in the fossil fuel sector. “The global slowdown, let’s say it’s FED induced,” Currie said about the Federal Reserve increasing rates to combat inflation, “it may create a pullback in [oil] prices, but it’s not a longterm fix.” “I want to emphasize demand destruction or demand slowdowns is not a fix to...

As the U.S. is facing record high gas prices, climate czar John Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, is pushing to prolong the crisis in order to permanently transform the economy and energy throughout the nation. Named the “No Taxpayer Funding For Climate Zealots Advancing Radical Schemes Act” or the “No Taxpayer Funding For CZARS Act,” eight Republicans are calling on legislation to ban funding of Kerry’s climate role, including salary, administrative and travel expenses. The proposed bill says that “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal funds may be used for the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate,...

Queens Councilmember Vickie Paladino drew criticism from her City Council colleagues after labeling drag queen events at city schools “degeneracy” and accusing progressives of having “no problem with child grooming and sexualization” in a series of tweets Monday. “Progressives may have no problem with child grooming and sexualization, but I do,” Paladino tweeted. “This will not happen on my watch. Kids deserve a quality education free from political manipulation and sexual content.” The tweets came in response to a New York Post article that reported the city had spent over $200,000 on performances by the group Drag Queen Story Hour...

The first and most enduring award for LGBTQIA+ books is the Stonewall Book Awards, sponsored by the American Library Association's Rainbow Round Table (formerly the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table).

During an interview aired on Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow,” House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stated that President Joe Biden’s oil and gas policy is like Hugo Chavez and “Venezuela all over again with what he is talking about.” Host Larry Kudlow stated, “I thought the — Biden would send the National Guard, maybe 20, 30,000 troops to take over Midland, TX. It’s not the war in Ukraine. It’s the war here against fossil fuel [companies]. Maybe he’ll nationalize Exxon. Maybe he’ll nationalize Chevron. I mean, I’ve never seen such a hostile executive. I mean,...

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor sang her colleague Justice Clarence Thomas’s praises on Thursday for his dedication to the court’s integrity. Speaking at the American Constitution Society on Thursday, the liberal Sotomayor hailed her colleague as a “man who cares deeply about the court as an institution.”

We were foolish enough to believe we could water the entire southwestern U.S. with the Colorado River. Nothing could go wrong. Now it has, and tens of millions of people are staring down the barrel of real trouble. As much as 75% of the water from Lake Mead (fed by the Colorado River) goes to agriculture…so now we have a potential food production problem. Major cities like Las Vegas depend on that water for its citizens…now we have a potential personal survival problem for local residents. More than 40 million people in seven states need to decide how they go...

With inflation now running seemingly out of control and trillion-dollar deficits being the new norm in Washington, Paul was back on the Senate floor Wednesday to offer another bill to balance the budget in five years. This time around, however, it would require cutting six cents for every budgetary dollar. The proposal failed, 29–67. "Washington's addiction to spending is hurting our economy and depleting our currency. Inflation is stealing every American's purchasing power and financial security," Paul said in a statement after the vote. "All this plan does is return to 2019 spending levels. If the federal government spent at...

A police officer in Naperville, Illinois, pulled over a driver for a minor traffic violation when another vehicle pulled up beside him traveling in the opposite direction, according to WSPY News. A man then got out of that stopped car and charged at the officer with a hatchet. The officer had been on the scene for over 11 minutes, according to the Naperville Police Department. There’s no way he could have been expecting a man to attack him for no apparent reason. The officer, a 22-year veteran of the NPD, promptly shot and killed the assailant. The deceased man was...

SJoe Scarborough Willie Geist MSNBC Morning Joe 6-16-22uch a tough hombre, that Joe Scarborough! On Thursday's Morning Joe, Ragin' Bull Scarborough twice fantasy-bragged about what he would do if he saw someone taking photos of security areas in the Capitol, claiming he'd threaten them with feeding them the camera. "If I'm giving a tour on any day of the year, and a guy's stopping and taking a picture of, like, metal detectors, taking a picture of entries, you know? I'd stop and say, hey, hey, hey Inspector Clouseau! Put the camera down or I'm gonna make you eat it."Get the...

Pres. Biden to CEO of Joann Inc.: "My sympathies to the family of your CFO, who dropped dead very unexpectedly." Video at link

More than half of Americans in a new poll from The Economist and YouGov believe that the U.S. is currently in a recession. The survey, published on Monday, found that 56 percent of respondents believed that the country is currently going through an economic recession. Twenty-two percent of respondents disagreed with the idea that the U.S is in a recession, while 22 percent of those surveyed said they are not sure if a recession is currently happening. Whether a respondent thought the economy had dipped into a recession largely was dependent on political party. Seventy percent of respondents who identified...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - The case for a couple charged with ongoing abuse at the Circle of Hope Girls Ranch was back in front of a Cedar County judge Monday. Boyd and Stephanie Householder face 100 charges of abuse combined, including molestation and statutory rape related to their operation of the boarding school near Stockton. They have pleaded not guilty. Our cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom. The judge is trying to keep publicity involving this case to a minimum to ensure that the Householders get a fair trial. The Householders were not in court either. Defense attorneys told...