Source: United Press International
“A new Washington state law that requires members of the clergy to report child abuse or neglect, including when the information is revealed in confession, is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. The DOJ claims the law is anti-Catholic and appears on its face to violate the First Amendment. The investigation, which was announced earlier this month, will look at the development and passage of Senate Bill 5375. The bill, which adds clergy members to the list of mandatory reporters, was passed by the Senate in a 28-20 vote and 64-31 by the House. It was signed into law May 2 by Gov. Bob Ferguson and is to go into effect July 27. A DOJ news release says the law has no exception for the absolute seal of confidentiality that applies to Catholic priests.” (05/22/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/05/22/child-abuse-reporter-cleagy-Washington-law/2911747844175/
Source: Politico
“All the president’s memecoins.” (05/22/25)
https://traffic.megaphone.fm/POLL6910547375.mp3?updated=1747891956
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“Many commenters responded to yesterday’s post by challenging the claim that 1.2 million Americans died of COVID …. I didn’t know this was still such a topic of debate, but since it seems the comment section is split, let me present my case for the 1.2 million number and see if people still disagree.” (05/22/25)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/the-evidence-that-a-million-americans
Source: The Contrarian
by Jennifer Rubin
“When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrested Istanbul Mayor and rival Ekrem İmamoğlu, mass protests erupted. But Erdoğan is hardly the only autocrat pulling that stunt. … Trump has now set a clear pattern that no other president in modern times has tried, at least since the Red Scare. Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested on spurious charges of obstructing an ICE arrest. ICE agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who accompanied members of Congress to investigate a detention center. When that frivolous, unjustified trespassing charge failed, the Trump minions lashed out and arrested Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who had engaged in her constitutional obligation to exercise oversight. … If the corporate media could tear themselves away from selling hysterical tell-all books and kvetching over who knew what about former President Joe Biden’s aging, they might report to the American people that the current president is acting no better than autocrats in Turkey, Chad, or Tanzania.” (05/22/25)
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/where-is-the-outrage-when-trump-goes
Source: Politico
“Romania’s constitutional court threw out defeated far-right candidate George Simion’s challenge to the result of Sunday’s presidential election. Simion announced Tuesday he would contest the outcome, claiming foreign interference by France and Moldova and voter fraud had influenced the contest, without providing evidence. But his request to annul the result was unanimously rejected, the court said on Thursday, paving the way for the inauguration of winner, centrist Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan. Simion denounced the ruling as a ‘coup’ in a statement on social media and called on his supporters to ‘fight’ in the coming days and weeks.” (05/22/25)
https://www.politico.eu/article/romanian-court-rejects-george-simions-election-challenge
Source: Antiwar.com
“Netanyahu: Ethnic Cleansing Needed To End War, US Launches Two More Airstrikes in Somalia, and More.” (05/22/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoUAmbx6orM
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Back in November 2015, I agreed with then-Senator and presidential candidate (now Secretary of State) Marco Rubio’s characterization of the national news media as a ‘SuperPAC’ for national Democrats. How to even place a monetary value on the relentlessly one-sidedly progressive news coverage on network TV and in print outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post? But is there a downside? Could this Super-est of all SuperPACs possibly be, on balance, less than helpful?” (05/22/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/05/22/superpresspac-problem/
Source: The Dispatch
by David M Drucker
“In August 2009, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacked President Barack Obama’s budding health care overhaul, declaring in a scathing television advertisement the legislation would raise taxes, balloon the deficit, and socialize medicine. Motivating the business lobbying group’s aggressive opposition were concerns the eventual Affordable Care Act would stifle economic growth and threaten its members’ profitability. Nearly 16 years later, the chamber is again at odds with a president and his prized agenda. But unlike the Obamacare hypothetical, Donald Trump’s unilateral implementation of tariffs on foreign imports is doing demonstrable damage to economic growth and business profitability. Yet rather than publicly target the president’s trade policies, the group is relying on respectful lobbying to obtain relief for its members.” (05/22/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/us-chamber-of-commerce-manufacturers-association-donald-trump-tariffs/
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“One cent coins will stop being produced in the US next year, the Treasury Department has confirmed. It marks the phasing out of the coins, commonly known as pennies, which have been in circulation for more than two centuries. President Donald Trump told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in February to stop minting the coins, calling them ‘wasteful.’ There has been a long debate over the cost and usefulness of pennies in the US. In January, Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) drew attention to the cost of minting pennies in a post on X. The penny was one of the first coins made by the US Mint, entering circulation in 1793. But over the past 10 years, the cost of producing it has risen from 1.3 cents to 3.69 cents per coin, according to the Treasury.” (05/22/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2j07858lno
Source: New York Times
“Are We in a New Era of Presidential Regalism?” (05/22/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb4w7B7dqzs
