“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [D-NY] is fast becoming the greatest fabulist since Aesop. Recently, Ocasio-Cortez insisted that true billionaires are a capitalist myth since ‘you can’t earn a billion dollars.’ However, her greatest work of fiction may be her insistence that the Framers fought against billionaires and would have joined her and other socialists in seeking to eradicate them today. Bertrand Russell once noted that ‘there is something feeble and a little contemptible’ about those ‘who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths.’ The American left has long peddled such ‘comfortable myths’ as the wealthy ‘not paying their fair share’ of taxes. The top 1% of income earners pay over 40% of federal taxes, and that percentage goes up to 70% for the top 10%.” (05/14/26)
“Large crowds of ultranationalist Jews gathered Thursday at the foot of Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, chanting racist slogans like ‘Death to Arabs’ and ‘May your villages burn’ as they began an annual parade through the Palestinian areas of the Old City, a procession often characterized by violence. The young, mostly-male group did their chanting under the eye of Israeli police, who had barred off parts of the plaza for journalists to cover the event. Normally a bustling marketplace for Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem, the plaza was devoid of Palestinians as the march began. The march commemorates what Israel calls Jerusalem Day, which marks Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war.” (05/14/26)
“Who of us has the right to live without fear? This is the question human rights lawyer Ruth Lopez has asked fearlessly in El Salvador — the country of my birth — for decades. It’s a question we all need to ask ourselves in the United States as well. For speaking boldly, Ruth is now in prison. She’s been held without trial since May 18, 2025 — now a year ago — when she was torn from her bed by police and arrested without any investigation or judicial warrant. Ruth has since had minimal contact with her family and lawyers. Ruth’s crime? She opposed corruption. When Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele signed a secret agreement with the Trump administration to accept $4.7 million for the illegal transfer of more than 200 U.S. deportees to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, Ruth spoke up to defend their basic rights.” (05/14/26)
Source: New York Post
by Elaine Dezenski & Max Meizlish
“A bombshell report this week laid bare a startling truth: Hong Kong is the lifeline for the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies. Hong Kong-registered shell companies are funneling billions of dollars in illicit oil revenue, along with weapons technology and surveillance tools, to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, fueling Tehran’s repressive military machine. But more than two months into the war, not one of Iran’s most important financial enablers — in Hong Kong or anywhere else in China — has been taken offline. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping shaking hands, with the US and Chinese flags behind them. It’s a glaring loophole in President Trump’s ‘Economic Fury’ and ‘Maximum Pressure’ campaigns that he’s promised will break the regime. So this week, as the president meets with Xi Jinping in Beijing, he should present the Chinese Communist Party with the bill for its continued support of Tehran’s terror.” (05/13/26)
“It’s hard to avoid noticing, and internally screaming over, the Trump administration’s proposed military budget upgrade to $1.5 trillion annually, as though the present trillion-dollar annual gift to the end of the world weren’t enough. It’s not just the proposed taxpayer bleed. It’s the collective assumption that ‘self-defense’ requires an ever-present readiness to kill lots of people, and beyond that the utter certainty that we have soulless enemies out there who want what we have, hate our freedoms, and will take what they can the moment we relax. This is just the way it is. No questions allowed. And our enemies aren’t pussycats. One of them, for instance, is China. … Nothing holds a country together like a good enemy.” (05/14/26)
“Vice President JD Vance is slated to make an appearance in Maine on Thursday to highlight the Trump administration’s efforts to combat fraud ahead of the state’s primary elections for several high-profile races. Vance, who chairs the administration’s anti-fraud task force, is scheduled to deliver remarks at Bangor International Airport, the White House and the Maine Republican Party announced. The vice president, who is seen as a potential GOP candidate for president in 2028, has been promoting the work of the task force as he has campaigned for Republican candidates in recent months. But Thursday’s visit is the first that has been expressly billed as a stop to talk about the fraud-fighting efforts rather than the economic-focused message he’s delivered in other visits.” (05/14/26)
“Mike Pence anointed himself to stand athwart the populist Right with a whistle in his mouth, screaming for conservatives to ‘get out of the pool.’ The imagery fits him perfectly. Pence increasingly resembles that obnoxious childhood lifeguard we all remember — the self-important scold, high on perceived power, perched way above everyone else. As such, Pence is convinced that enforcing his rules matters more than understanding why people jumped into the water in the first place. From his perch at CNN studios and establishment think tanks, Pence now lectures conservatives about ‘traditional principles,’ warning Republicans against populism and urging a return to the old GOP orthodoxy. … Pence demands that Republicans engage in ‘soul-searching’ over populism. Fine. Let’s do exactly that.” (05/14/26)
“Senators unanimously approved a resolution Thursday to withhold their pay during government shutdowns, an attempt to make federal closures financially painful for lawmakers after a string of record-breaking impasses in the past year. The bipartisan support for the measure comes at a time when federal closures have become longer and more frequent, frustrating lawmakers who say there should be punishment when Congress fails at its most basic legislative duty. Under the resolution, senators’ pay would be withheld by the secretary of the Senate whenever a government shutdown affects one or more agencies, then released once funding is restored. It will take effect the day after the Nov. 3 general election. ‘Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences,’ said Sen. John Kennedy [R-LA], the bill’s sponsor, in a floor speech Wednesday.” (05/14/26)
“A vessel reportedly operating as a ‘floating armoury’ in the Gulf of Oman has been seized by Iranian military personnel, according to the maritime risk management company Vanguard. The ship is now ‘bound for Iranian territorial waters,’ the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation said. BBC Verify has checked ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic which shows the vessel – identified by Vanguard as the Honduras-flagged Hui Chuan — last broadcast its location 70km (40 miles) north-east of Fujairah in the UAE on Wednesday. Hui Chuan’s operators told Vanguard it was operating as a floating armoury which stores weapons for security firms who protect ships at sea from attack by pirates. BBC Verify cannot confirm what was on the ship or who it was used by.” (05/14/26)
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish
“Executives from Amazon, Walmart, and scores of other anti-worker, anti-regulation corporations are paying millions to influence elected officials through the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), researchers and former lawmakers who have attended the meetings told the Prospect. In exchange for donating to the NCSL Foundation, the NCSL allows executives to set conference agendas and put their preferred speakers on panel discussions about policymaking, they said. The arrangement is giving corporate interests significant power to shape how lawmakers think about issues, especially those in which they have little or no expertise, these critics say. The benefits go well beyond those that the NCSL Foundation says on its website come with the annual sponsorship fees at various price levels, such as invitations to meetings.” (05/14/26)
