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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to calm fears of a possible debt default Tuesday, pleading with everyone to “relax” as talks continue between the White House and House GOP negotiators ahead of the likely June 1 deadline. “I think everybody needs to relax,” McConnell told reporters in his home state, again reiterating that the nation will not default on its payments, a declaration he’s repeated throughout the negotiation process. “The last 10 times we raised the debt ceiling, there were things attached to it. This is not that unusual. It is almost entirely required when you have divided...

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) entered into public record the previously undisclosed name of a 17-year-old illegal alien murder suspect while she was admonishing House Republicans Tuesday during a congressional hearing for revealing details of the case. Jayapal, ranking member on the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, appeared to have accidentally exposed the name, which appeared in the subject line of an email from Health and Human Services (HHS) that she made public during the hearing.

SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER John 17:1-11aFriends, Jesus’ prayer in today’s Gospel sums up his wonderful work as he is about to return to his Father. Jesus was, in his very person, the meeting of heaven and earth. God and humanity came together in him, and his entire ministry was the outward expression of that inward identity. By calling a scattered Israel to unity, inviting the poor to table fellowship, healing the sick in body and heart, and embodying the path of forgiveness and love, Jesus was bringing God’s will and purpose to earth. Now, in his Passion and death, Jesus...

A popular Orlando restaurant that regularly features drag shows filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday, less than a week after he signed a bill that targets drag performances. The lawsuit filed in Orlando federal court by the owner of Hamburger Mary’s Orlando claims the state is depriving the business of its First Amendment rights to free expression. The restaurant is asking the court to temporarily stop the law from taking effect while the case moves forwardDeSantis has made anti-LGBTQ+ legislation a large part of his agenda as he prepares to seek...

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will reportedly announce his 2024 presidential campaign in a Twitter Spaces livestream with Elon Musk on Wednesday evening, according to sources. Bloomberg reported, “DeSantis will speak with Musk at 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and the campaign will release a video formally...

Red giant star Betelgeuse. (ALMA - ESO/NAOJ/NRAO, E/O'Gorman/P.Kervella) Since what has come to be known as the Great Dimming that took place in the latter half of 2019 and early 2020, the red giant star Betelgeuse just will not stop with the wackiness. The dying star's regular cycles of brightness fluctuation have changed, and now Betelgeuse has grown uncharacteristically bright. At the time of writing, it was sitting at 142 percent of its normal brightness. It's been fluctuating back and forth on a small scale but on a steady upward trend for months and hit a recent peak of 156...

SNIPWhen compared with U.S. assistance to other top recipients, both in recent years and in decades past, the extraordinary scale of this aid comes into view.However, the magnitude of U.S. aid to Ukraine might seem less remarkable in comparison to what the Pentagon is budgeted each year, or what the Treasury was authorized (via the Troubled Asset Relief Fund) to bail out Wall Street banks, auto companies, and other sectors of the economy during the U.S. financial crisis.When compared with the critical support to Ukraine from other countries, the size of U.S. aid stands out.SNIP

Williams-Sonoma, a retailer specializing in kitchen and home furnishings, confirmed Friday that it will leave its downtown San Francisco location next year, becoming the latest big retailer to leave the Union Square area. The San Francisco Standard reported (original links): The Williams-Sonoma Union Square store will close in 2024, the retailer confirmed Friday afternoon. … Williams-Sonoma is one of many stores that have left or plan to leave Union Square, with several of them blaming street conditions and reduced foot traffic. News of the retailer’s closure comes after Nordstrom announced it would close both of its Downtown San Francisco locations....

After a brief social media hiatus, Kellyanne Conway’s “wild child” daughter Claudia is back in the spotlight. This time, former Donald Trump campaign supervisor’s 18-year-old progeny has a new gig creating salacious content for Playboy.com, the online offshoot of the now-defunct print magazine. “Claudia Conway is one of many women who have found freedom, autonomy, and major financial success on our creator platform,” Playboy announced in a statement received by The Post. “We welcome her and support her choices.” Conway has been operating the subscription page since April, just six months after her 18th birthday. The fledgling Playboy bunny first...

Minutes ago, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction (download the PDF HERE) against the DOJ’s and ATF’s unconstitutional attack on firearms equipped with a pistol stabilizing brace. The lawsuit, brought by the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and other plaintiffs, paid off with this temporary injunction just days before ATF’s mandatory registration “grace period” that was set to expire on the 31st.

Henry Kissinger turns 100 on May 27. How should he be remembered? For me, he is the American who, more than any other individual, lost the Vietnam War. But today Kissinger is a demigod among our foreign policy elite. National Security Adviser and Secretary of State under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, Kissinger ranks in the top echelon of notable Americans. On issues like the war in Ukraine and even artificial intelligence, our elite wants to know: "What does Henry recommend?" Kissinger's rise to eminence began with his secret negotiation of the 1973 Paris Peace Agreement ostensibly ending the...

Doorbell footage captured the moment a supposed Dollar General worker plowed her car into a man who was allegedly fleeing after having stolen from her store. The incident, which happened on May 11 at around 11.20am, shows the man on a bicycle cruising along a sidewalk in Fresno, California, when suddenly a woman driving a white Honda, said to be a Dollar General employee by the owner of the camera, swerved into the man and knocked him off his bike.

Compared to Hunter Biden’s admitted alcohol and hard drug abuse — and, according to Republicans, his influence-peddling crime spree — a federal railroad patronage appointment seems mild and milquetoast. But 17 years later, it takes on a darker tinge considering the troubles President Joe Biden’s often-wayward son would embroil himself in. Hunter Biden was a member of the Amtrak Board of Directors from July 2006 until January 2009, resigning when his father became vice president under President Barack Obama. Technically nominated by President George W. Bush as part of a broader deal with Democrats over Senate appointments, Hunter Biden’s Capitol...

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) issued what he described as a “formal travel advisory for socialists visiting Florida,” on Tuesday, warning that the state was “openly hostile” to socialists and their enablers. “The state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by Socialists and others who work in the Biden Administration,” Scott, who is also the state’s former governor, said in a press release. SENATE Rick Scott issues travel advisory for ‘socialists,’ warning Florida is ‘openly hostile’ to them BY SARAH FORTINSKY - 05/23/23 1:43 PM ET SHARE TWEET Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., walks outside a...

The FBI failed during a closed-door meeting on Monday to hand over a document sought by the GOP-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee that allegedly details a "criminal scheme" involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and an unnamed "foreign national." The committee's chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), revived his request for the FBI form to Director Christopher Wray on Friday, accusing the agency of interfering with his subpoena launched on May 3 with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Weeks later, the bureau has yet to hand over the document, which Comer and Grassley say was first tipped off to them by a...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)“I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.” John 17:4–5Saint Ignatius of Loyola bases his spiritual masterpiece, The Spiritual Exercises, on one basic premise: Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. This is the essence of what Ignatius calls the “Principle and Foundation” of our lives.In other words, our goal in life is twofold: First, we must seek to...

After months of buildup and speculation, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is officially entering the 2024 White House. Sources familiar confirmed to Fox News that the popular, conservative two-term governor will declare that he's candidate for president, on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET during a conversation with Elon Musk on Twitter.

Net interest payments on the national debt rose from $352 billion in 2021 to $475 billion in 2022 — the highest nominal dollar amount in recorded history. Relative to the size of the economy, such costs were 1.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the highest level in 21 years.Much of that increase was due to higher interest rates on U.S. Treasury securities. Although borrowing rose sharply over the past few years to address the COVID-19 pandemic, interest costs were muted as a result of low interest rates. However, as inflation rose to a 40-year high in 2022, the Federal...

Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a “state of emergency” on Monday in an attempt to stop the state legislature from passing a school choice bill. Cooper released a video announcement in which he declared a state of emergency, arguing that the state of public education is “no less important” than other emergencies. “It’s time to declare a state of emergency for public education in North Carolina. There’s no executive order like with a hurricane or the pandemic, but it’s no less important,” Cooper said. He continued, “It’s clear that the Republican legislature is aiming to choke the life...

The unhinged Manhattan college professor who went viral for cursing out anti-abortion students shockingly held a machete to a Post reporter’s neck Tuesday — and made wild threats that she was going to “chop” him up. Shellyne Rodriguez spewed the menacing remarks when The Post knocked on the door of her Bronx apartment Tuesday morning — a day after she made headlines for flipping out on pro-life students at Hunter College. “Get the - away from my door, or I’m gonna chop you up with this machete!” the manic adjunct art professor shouted from behind her closed door just moments...