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As some Republicans mull adding conditions to federal relief aid for California, which has been devastated by wildfires in Los Angeles County, critics have pointed out that the state already pays more than it receives in federal taxes.

This video includes A.I.-generated segments based on excerpts from Dr. Thomas Sowell’s books and interviews, applied to modern events. Every effort is made to remain true to Dr. Sowell’s original intent, context, and message. It’s our version of asking: What Would Sowell Say? (WWSS) about the issues of our time. Our goal is to bring Dr. Sowell’s timeless insights to a new generation—not as distant history, but as enduring truth.

Friday on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” chief political correspondent Dana Bash detailed her morning phone conversation with President Donald Trump. Co-host Wolf Blitzer asked, “You had a chance to speak with the president this morning. How did that go?” Bash said, “Well, look, the headline in our conversation about Elon Musk is that the president says that he has no plans to speak with Musk, and he said that he thinks that Musk has got a problem. So the reason why that is the question right now is maybe, perhaps very obvious but behind the scenes, the push is on...

Three days on, and Ukraine is still digesting the full implications of Operation Spider's Web, Sunday's massive assault on Russia's strategic aviation. On Wednesday, the agency which orchestrated the attack, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), released additional, vivid footage of the attacks in progress, as well as tantalising glimpses into how the whole complex operation was conducted. Satellite images that have emerged since Sunday, showing the wrecked outlines of planes sitting on the tarmac at the Olenya, Ivanovo, Dyagilevo and Belaya airbases, also help tell the story of the operation's unprecedented success. For Ukrainian observers, the whole operation, a...

Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said Monday on CNN’s “News Central” that officers with the Department of Homeland Security had no right to enter his congressional office and briefly detained a staff member. Co-host Kate Bolduan said, “Last week, federal officers with DHS were seen going into your district office in New York. They handcuffed and detained one of your aides for a period of time.” She asked, “What is your view of what happened?” Nadler said, “Well, my view is what happened is outrageous. My first concern was for the safety of of my staff member, and I didn’t say...

(AFP) — Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Germany along with Ukraine’s other key Western backers had lifted range restrictions on weapons they send to Kyiv to fight against Russia. Merz, who took office early this month, also vowed that “we will do everything in our power to continue supporting Ukraine, including militarily”, in close coordination with other supporters. “There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons delivered to Ukraine — neither by the British nor by the French nor by us nor by the Americans,” he said. “This means that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example, by...

Friday, in a clip that aired on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Big” was unacceptable in its current form, as passed by the House of Representatives. Johnson told a reporter on Capitol Hill, “I couldn’t care less if he’s upset. I’m concerned about my children, my grandchildren, and the fact that we are stealing from them. We are stealing from our children and grandchildren. $37 trillion in debt, and we’re going to add to it as Republicans? That is unacceptable.” He added, “And that’s why there’s no way I’m going to...

AP — Russia and Ukraine have no direct peace talks scheduled, the Kremlin said Thursday, nearly a week after their first face-to-face session since shortly after Moscow’s invasion in 2022 and days after U.S. President Donald Trump said they would start ceasefire negotiations “immediately.” “There is no concrete agreement about the next meetings,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “They are yet to be agreed upon.” During two hours of talks in Istanbul on May 16, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, in what would be their biggest such swap. Apart from that step, the...

Canadian Prime Minister Markey Carney has said that "high level" talks are taking place with the US about joining its proposed "Golden Dome" missile defence system, aimed at countering futuristic threats. US President Donald Trump unveiled the plan for the new missile defence system on Tuesday, announcing an initial total cost of $25bn (£18.7bn). He said Canada was interested in joining the project. There are doubts from experts on how the US would deliver a comprehensive system and it is unclear how Canada would participate or how much it would pay. "It's something that we are looking at and something...

Apparently, a high volume abortion facility in Illinois has a big, dirty problem. This same abortion business is well known for a high number of abortion-related medical emergencies that have sent at least four women to the hospital in March and April alone. But the Hope Clinic’s latest woes may be part of a nationwide pattern of grisly consequences when conducting the high-volume extermination of unborn children. Pro-life activists reported interacting with a representative from Embrich Plumbing outside the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, on the morning of May 3, 2025. The plumber opened a nearby manhole...

...after being cut from speech line-up and banned from laying a cloth on boxer's coffin during Muslim ceremony -Recep Tayyip Erdogan had specially flown to Louisville, Kentucky, to say farewell to Ali -But the president’s office said Erdogan left the United States for Turkey late Thursday after attending the prayer ceremony -He was due to speak at today's multi-faith service but lost his slot due to 'lack of program space' -Funeral organizers also 'refused to allow Erdogan to lay a cloth from the Kaaba on Ali’s coffin during the Thursday ceremony' -In addition he wanted the head of Turkey's religious...

Members of law enforcement say no tax on overtime would be a “huge advantage” to them, and the White House shared their remarks following the “big, beautiful” bill jumping a key hurdle in the U.S. House on Sunday. The Trump White House shared a video of members of law enforcement explaining what no tax on overtime would do for them. One said it would be a “huge advantage to law enforcement across the country.” “We work sometimes 100 plus hours a pay period. It’s a lot of time taken away from the family. So that would be pretty special,” another...

This week, the Islamic Republic of Iran reportedly successfully launched a military satellite using the same advanced technologies that guide intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Hyten did not initially categorize the launch as successful but did confirm the missile “travelled a long way.” Nevertheless, a prominent satellite tracking service now shows the “Nour 1” in orbit, which should be of great concern to the United States. The type of ballistic missile technology used to launch this satellite could deliver nuclear, chemical, or even biological weapons to "wipe Israel off the map,"...

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that American households are not bracing for a surge in inflation—instead, they’re growing more concerned about income, employment, and their financial outlook. The findings may bolster calls from President Trump and others for the Fed to begin cutting interest rates. According to the New York Fed’s April Survey of Consumer Expectations, short-term inflation expectations remained steady at 3.6 percent, while five-year expectations edged down to 2.7 percent. Although medium-term inflation expectations ticked up slightly to 3.2 percent—the highest since mid-2022—the overall picture does not reflect widespread inflation anxiety. What...

Thursday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” senior political commentator Van Jones spoke with a group of African Americans in South Carolina who explained why they voted for and continue to support President Donald Trump. Seth Dawkins said, “I mean, part of it is he’s an &&&^&^&. I like — I like authenticity.” Detra German said, “It just opened my eyes to maybe he’s not this person that I have been led to believe that he was.” Kyasia Kraft said, “I saw how things were going during his first term, and I was pleasantly surprised, and I was pleased with what...

Investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger says that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the CIA and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) helped orchestrate President Trump’s 2019 impeachment. In an interview on Fox News, Shellenberger recounted how the impeachment case was brought about based on the word of a CIA analyst, left over from the Obama administration, who claimed to have heard from White House staff that Trump had pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in a phone call, to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. Shellenberger said that a memo written by that analyst, which served as the...

Here's what you need to know about this hot button topic.Key Points: -Political controversy has stoked new conversations around the fluoridation of water and whether the mineral is safe to consume. -Water fluoridation, or the practice of adding fluoride to sources of drinking water, has been credited as one of the greatest public health innovations of the 20th century and helps protect tooth enamel and prevent cavities. -Dental experts and research say that water fluoridation provides vital dental support for communities, is proven to reduce rates of tooth decay, and is safe when kept at recommended concentrations. Although the addition...

Could Cardinal Parolin be validly elected pope?For Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican II 'renewal' is to be brought about through compromise with the proponents of liberalism and naturalism, rather than by combatting these errors.Pietro Parolin is widely regarded as one of the leading candidates who may be elected at the next conclave. Parolin was named a cardinal by Francis in 2014 and has been a member of his influential Council of Cardinal Advisers since that year. He played a prominent role in Francis’s radical revolution and has been a strong supporter of “synodality”, which he sees as a continuation of Vatican...

Charles McGonigal may be the most corrupt FBI official in modern history—and yet somehow, his name has barely made a blip on the radar. This wasn’t some mid-level pencil-pusher. McGonigal was one of the top counterintelligence agents at the FBI’s New York field office. He was directly involved in the bureau’s most sensitive operations, including the infamous “Crossfire Hurricane” probe into (phony) Trump–Russia “collusion.” And after that whole fraudulent mess, it turns out that he was secretly taking money from a Kremlin-linked oligarch and helping shake down Albanian oligarchs on the side. You can’t make this up, right? Now here...

The “end of history” is over and Europe is experiencing a “transatlantic crisis”, says Ursula von der Leyen, former Angela Merkel acolyte turned European Commission supremo. “Another, new European Union” is needed to shape the “new world order” emerging out of power struggles between the United States, China, and Russia the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen told a German newspaper. Speaking to Die Zeit, the top Eurocrat expressed her interpretation of events that “The West as we knew it no longer exists”, stating that beyond the old understanding of what countries were Western and which not,...