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David Horowitz, the ex-radical firebrand who spent the last 40 years of his life exposing the left’s lies, hypocrisies, and crimes, died on April 29 after a long battle with cancer. He was 86.

A former Marxist intellectual and New Left insider who became one of the most prolific and pugilistic conservative writers of his time, Horowitz was many things: essayist, agitator, memoirist, mentor, and iconoclast. But above all, he was a political street fighter of the first order. He saw himself on a battlefield of ideas — and he had no interest in compromise.

Horowitz spent the second half of his life warning Americans about the first half. And he never, ever backed down.

He was also my first boss.

Born in Forest Hills, New York, in 1939 to Communist Party members, Horowitz was steeped in ideological certainty from the cradle. He earned degrees at Columbia and UC Berkeley, gravitated toward literary criticism, and helped lead the radical journal Ramparts in the 1960s. By the early ’70s, he was deep in the orbit of the Black Panthers, whose criminality and murder of Horowitz’s friend Betty Van Patter all but obliterated his faith in the left.

That trauma marked the turning point and the beginning of a long journey rightward. He completed his break from his old comrades in 1985, when he and his longtime friend and collaborator Peter Collier published a scorching essay in the Washington Post Magazine with the cheeky title “Lefties for Reagan.”

“One of the few saving graces of age is a deeper perspective on the passions of youth,” they wrote. “Looking back on the left’s revolutionary enthusiasms of the last 25 years, we have painfully learned what should have been obvious all along: that we live in an imperfect world that is bettered only with great difficulty and easily made worse — much worse. This is a conservative assessment, but on the basis of half a lifetime’s experience, it seems about right.”

Horowitz would later write in his autobiography that his “moral conscience could no longer be reconciled with the lies of the Left.” If it could kill and lie and justify it all in the name of justice, what the hell kind of justice was it?

Horowitz’s political evolution was more than a turn — it was a total break. And once broken, he threw himself into the cause of exposing the radicalism, corruption, and totalitarian impulses of his former comrades. He brought to the right a kind of inside knowledge and rhetorical ferocity that few others could match.

In the late 1980s, he and Collier (who died in 2019) launched the Center for the Study of Popular Culture — originally just a room in Horowitz’s house in the San Fernando Valley. “The name identified its focus,” Horowitz wrote, “but also made it harder for the Left to attack.” It wasn’t a think tank like Heritage or Cato. “Our combative temperament was hardly suited to policy analysis,” he admitted. The CSPC would become the David Horowitz Freedom Center in 1998 — what Horowitz proudly called a “battle tank.”

I started working there in 1994, fresh out of college. David and Peter gave me my first real job. I wasn’t there long — only a couple of years — but the lessons stuck. When I gave notice to join the Claremont Institute, Peter warned me: “I certainly wish you luck. I don’t think David will take the news very well, though.” Oh, boy, was he right.

“JESUS CHRIST! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME?” was David’s immediate, explosive reaction. Such outbursts were legendary in the office — others had gotten the same treatment — but after a talk, he settled down. I finished my two weeks, and he shook my hand and wished me well as I left.

It took me a while to understand his wild response. But as he admitted in “Radical Son,” he had “a strain of loyalty in me” and “an inability to let go of something I had committed myself to.” That loyalty was fierce. And once you were in David’s circle — whether as comrade or colleague — he expected you to stay. Nothing mattered but the cause. “I would not run when things got tough,” he wrote of his hesitation to break from the Panthers. It was personal for him, always.

Peter once described his friend to me as “four-fifths of a human being.” That was generous on some days. Horowitz could be cold, irascible, and prone to volcanic rage. But he also had a great heart, one which bore scars from a lifetime of tragedy and regret. One of his most affecting books is “A Cracking of the Heart,” the 2009 memoir of his rocky relationship with his daughter Sarah, a gifted writer in her own right, who died suddenly in 2008 at the age of 44. It’s the reflection of a fully formed human being.

I was proud to publish David’s work years later. It always tickled me when he pitched articles — my old boss, pitching me — but I was pleased to publish them out of gratitude for the start he and Peter gave me.

While David became famous for his political transformation, in some ways he never changed. “You can take the boy out of the left,” one wag quipped, “but you can’t take the left out of the boy.” Venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, David’s son, put it even more precisely: “While David became known for his change in views, in a sense he never changed at all.” His method of ideological engagement — fierce, unrelenting, totalizing, moralistic — remained constant. Once an ideologue, always an ideologue.

And thank God for that.

David launched and encouraged the careers of many others, including Donald Trump’s domestic adviser Stephen Miller and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. His Freedom Center helped shape the new generation of conservative activists — and sharpened the right’s sense of urgency and resolve. Though he often complained that Republicans lacked the stomach to fight, he lived long enough to see another political pugilist from Queens take and retake the Oval Office.

His nine-volume “The Black Book of the American Left” was arguably his life’s last great project, modeled in part on “The Black Book of Communism.” Where others flinched or equivocated, Horowitz named the threat. The left wasn’t simply wrong — it was dangerous, deceitful, and, at its root, totalitarian.

David Horowitz is survived by his wife, April, four children, and several grandchildren.

He spent the second half of his life warning Americans about the first half. And he never, ever backed down.

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at Chronicles Magazine.

​Opinion & analysis, In memoriam, Obituary, Marxism, The left, The right, Donald trump, Ramparts, 1960s, Ronald reagan, Communist party usa, David horowitz, Peter collier, Stephen miller, Charlie kirk, Black panthers, Betty van patter 

An Ohio father whose son was killed in a Cincinnati police shooting last week is accused of murdering a recently retired sheriff’s deputy the very next day.

Rodney Hinton Jr. on Tuesday appeared in court for a no-bond hearing on an aggravated murder charge in the death of retired Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy Larry Henderson, WLWT-TV reported.

The detective said Hinton Jr. picked out the first officer he could find and accelerated toward him, going ‘through the intersection, directly at where deputy Henderson was standing, struck deputy Henderson and the metal utility pole on the northeast corner.’

The station said the court’s gallery was packed with family members and law enforcement officers during the hearing — and that emotions ran high.

The prosecution called a Cincinnati police detective who said Hinton Jr. on Friday had been at the police station to meet with the chief and view police bodycam video from the day before, WLWT reported.

The video showed officers fatally shooting Hinton Jr.’s son, Ryan Hinton, the station said, adding that the shooting occurred as police stopped a stolen car.

The detective said Hinton Jr. was emotional after viewing the bodycam video, and family didn’t want him driving, WLWT reported.

The detective said Hinton Jr. initially didn’t drive — but came back later, got his car, and headed to an area near the University of Cincinnati where deputy Henderson was directing traffic for the college’s graduation, the station noted.

The detective said Hinton Jr. picked out the first officer he could find and accelerated toward him, going “through the intersection, directly at where deputy Henderson was standing, struck deputy Henderson and the metal utility pole on the northeast corner,” WLWT reported.

The prosecutor asked if there was evidence of skid marks, but the station said the detective replied “no” and that “there were no indications he tried to brake, stop, or otherwise avoid deputy Henderson.”

The prosecution previously said Hinton Jr. “purposely caused the death of an on-duty deputy sheriff,” WCPO-TV said.

Judge Tyrone Yates heard testimony as well as arguments from the state and defense in regard to bond for Hinton Jr., WLWT said, adding that the state said there are no adequate forms of release, and the suspect is a “giant mental health question mark” who presents a risk to law enforcement officers and the public.

Hinton Jr.’s attorney, Clyde Bennett, entered a not guilty plea on Hinton Jr.’s behalf and noted that his client’s behavior indicates “classic mental illness” — and that not being in a right frame of mind can get one believing a wrong choice is actually right, the station said.

Hinton Jr. was denied bond at Tuesday’s hearing, NBC News said.

Bennett said he will seek a competency hearing, WLWT noted, adding that a grand jury date was set for May 12.

You can view a video report here about Tuesday’s hearing and the case in general.

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While talking to Bill O’Reilly and Andrew Cuomo on “News Nation,” Stephen A. Smith received a presidential endorsement that no one was expecting.

President Donald Trump called into the show to endorse Smith as a 2028 presidential nominee.

“Stephen A. Smith may run for president, as you know,” O’Reilly told Trump over the phone. “Do you have any advice for Stephen A. if he launches the run?”

“No, Stephen A., he’s a good guy, he’s a smart guy, I love watching him, he’s got great entertainment skills, which is very important. People watch him. You know, a lot of these Democrats I watch, I say, ‘They have no chance.’ I’ve been pretty good at picking people and picking candidates, and I will tell you, I’d love to see him run,” Trump said to cheers from the studio audience.

“Boom,” Jason Whitlock of “Fearless” says. “Donald Trump has joined Stephen A. Smith’s campaign for the presidency in 2028. Doesn’t surprise me.”

“But it does surprise me that they’re paying the guy $20 million a year at ESPN and he doesn’t even have to pay attention to sports,” he continues, “He’s out campaigning for president.”

BlazeTV contributors Steve Kim and T.J. Moe are glad Trump is endorsing Smith.

“I’m with Donald Trump,” Kim says. “I hope he runs for president, please let it be. Please. In fact, let his running mate be Jazzy Jazz Ratchet. That’s a dream party ticket for me. So yes, I endorse the endorsement of Donald J. Trump.”

“I had the same thought,” Moe chimes in. “Trump’s baiting him into it. It’s no different than what I heard yesterday, Beto O’Rourke came out and said, ‘If the people of Texas want me to run for the Senate, I will run.’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, I will donate and contribute to your campaign because it will guarantee another conservative maintains Texas.’”

“That’s what I think Donald Trump’s doing here,” he adds.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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After years of lying to the American public that Joe Biden was as “sharp as a tack,” former White House staff and the legacy media are now quietly admitting that our suspicions were right all along — Biden was as sharp as a soap bubble. From former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain to numerous media voices, the narrative has been corrected. People knew.

Former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki just addressed the former president’s mental acuity on a recent episode of Semafor Media’s “Mixed Signals.”

Pat Gray plays the clip.

“I left in May of 2022 … and I have seen Biden once since then, when I took my daughter to the holiday party this last December after he had lost. And so I hadn’t seen him in person during that period of time. I never saw that person — not a single time, and I was in the Oval Office every day — that was on that debate stage,” Psaki doubled down.

“Were things that people saw during that period of time that were similar to that or would have been in a category of that? I don’t know. Possibly,” she then caveated.

“Were they actively covering it up? Were they sort of in denial? Or was that just a bad debate?” Semafor editor in chief Ben Smith asked.

“Cover-up is a very loaded term. … Cover-up is often, like, a crime,” Psaki said defensively. “People use that term as they relate to Watergate. … It’s a bit of a dangerous term.”

“Yes, this is much worse than that,” says Stu Burguiere, calling “cover-up” an “accurate term.”

“Yes, it’s the truth. People covered up for him, and they’re admitting that now,” agrees Pat. “To me, that borders on treason when you’re talking about the chief executive of this country.”

However, even if we were to give Psaki’s story the benefit of the doubt, it would still fall flat because “before [Biden] was even elected, he had lost a step (or 12).”

“We saw it all during the campaign in 2020,” says Pat. Even back then it was clear that “he was not the same guy he was back in 2008 when he ran.”

To hear more of the conversation and see the footage of Psaki’s interview, watch the clip above.

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, Blaze media, Blazetv, Jen psaki, Biden mental decline, Biden administration 

The decades-long feud between India and Pakistan broke out into a military attack after a lethal attack on tourists in a region administered by India.

Indian officials said on Wednesday (local time) they ordered missile strikes on what they identified as “terrorist infrastructure” of nine locations. The attack was a response to a massacre of tourists in Kashmir last month that was attributed to a Kashmir resistance group.

‘This heinous provocation will not go unanswered.’

“These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered,” read a statement from India’s Ministry of Defence. “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”

In April, gunmen opened fire on tourists in Pahalgam, a Indian-administered part of Kashmir, and killed 26 tourists. Kashmir is a disputed region that is claimed by both countries but only controlled in part since the partition of British India in 1947.

Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry released a statement vowing that the country would retaliate.

“Pakistan will respond to it at a time and place of its own choosing,” said Chaudhry. “This heinous provocation will not go unanswered.”

Pakistani sources told CNN that three of the affected sites — Kotli, Muzaffarabad, and Bagh — were in the Pakistani-administered portion of Kashmir, while two of the locations — Ahmadpur East and Muridke — were in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Three people were killed in the attack, including one child, according to Pakistani officials.

India did not publicly blame the Pakistani government for the tourist massacre but said that the strikes were in response to the government’s “support for cross-border terrorism.” The Resistance Front initially claimed responsibility and then reportedly walked back the claim.

The escalation of the feud between the two countries is especially alarming because they are both armed with nuclear weapons. The two nations have fought for control of Kashmir ever since 1947, making it one of the most militarized places in the world.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif denied the claim from India that they had struck terrorist sites and called on international media to visit the sites to document that they were targeting civilians.

President Donald Trump offered some comments about the altercation from the Oval Office.

“It’s a shame. We just heard about it, just as we were walking in the doors of the Oval, just heard about it,” said Trump.

“I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time, you know. They’ve been fighting for many, many decades and centuries,” he added. “I just hope it ends very quickly.”

Pakistan’s prime minister, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, said the strikes were an act of war.

“The enemy will never be allowed to succeed in his nefarious objectives,” Sharif said.

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​Pakistan india war, India strikes pakistan, Terror attack india, India vs pakistan, Politics 

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he was directing an investigation into what he called an “alarming” violation of student rights at a Loudon County school over a transgender policy.

The family of a student at Stone Bridge High School said he was accused of sexual harassment after asking why there was a biological girl in the boys’ locker room. The student is reportedly being investigated for allegedly violating Title IX, which forbids sex discrimination.

‘It’s astonishing that Loudoun school officials are subjecting him to a formal investigation for a bogus charge that could derail his life.’

On Tuesday, Youngkin responded to outrage over the case by announcing an investigation into the actions of the school district officials.

“Parental rights are not negotiable,” wrote the governor on social media.

“It’s deeply concerning to read reports of yet another incident in Loudoun County schools where members of the opposite sex are violating the privacy of students in locker rooms,” he added. “Even more alarming, the victims of this violation are the ones being investigated.”

He went on to say that the state’s attorney general was investigating the matter in order to ensure that “every student’s privacy, dignity and safety are upheld.”

Details of the incident were documented in a lawsuit filed by the Founding Freedoms Law Center, which is representing the student. The male student, who is a high school sophomore, complained about the presence of a biological girl in the boys’ locker room and was recorded by the biological female. The recording also captured two other male students who expressed confusion and discomfort about the girl’s presence.

The district has a policy of allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity and not their biological identity.

The boy’s father said the accusation could ruin his son’s life.

“My 15-year-old son is being unfairly targeted for simply asking a basic question that any boy would be asking in that situation. It’s astonishing that Loudoun school officials are subjecting him to a formal investigation for a bogus charge that could derail his life,” the father said.

A father of one of the boys commented to WJLA-TV; it was unclear if this was a different father.

“There were other boys asking the same question,” he said. “[LCPS] created a very uncomfortable situation. They’re young. They’re 15 years old. They’re expressing their opinions, and now they’re being targeted for expressing those opinions.”

WJLA pointed out that it was against school policy to record in school locker rooms, but the boys who were recorded are being investigated rather than the student who recorded them.

The father said the school needed to change its policy in order to protect all children.

“I think the policy itself creates an unsafe environment for all kids at all levels, from the elementary schools and middle school to the high school,” he added.

“I think it creates an unsafe and unclear message for them. I think by not having clear policies in line with the presidential mandates, that it has actually created these hostile environments, and environments that these young boys and young girls do not feel comfortable in,” the father explained. “I do want our son and his future and these other students to be protected, but I think that the bigger issue is that the policy itself is not keeping our students safe.”

A spokesperson for Loudon school district did not respond to a request for a comment from the Washington Times.

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​Youngkin vs loudon school, Loudon county public schools, Loudon schools trangender, Girl in boys locker room, Politics 

A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration and ordered for 12,000 migrants to be allowed entry and resettlement in the U.S. after the government objected to an injunction from a prior ruling.

The Trump administration had estimated that the injunction would apply to only about 160 people, but U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead accused them of “interpretative jiggery-pokery” to exempt thousands.

‘The government is not free to disobey statutory and constitutional law — and the direct orders of this court and the Ninth Circuit.’

The migrants had their travel approved under the United States Refugee Admissions Program, but President Donald Trump ended the program with an executive order when he got into office in January.

Whitehead had issued a preliminary injunction against the administration ending the programs, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals partially ruled against him, saying that the Trump administration had the authority to determine immigration law. The court said that the ruling would not apply to migrants conditionally accepted to travel before the Jan. 20 order.

However, since the appeals court did not define what conditional acceptance meant, the government concluded that it only applied to 160 people, while Whitehead said it applied to more than 12,000 people.

“It is surprising that there could be any disagreement about the meaning of a judicial order that articulates three specific criteria in plain, straightforward language,” Whitehead wrote after the court clarified three conditions to meet the standard.

He also said the government was “hallucinating new text” into the appeals court order.

“This court will not entertain the government’s result-oriented rewriting of a judicial order that clearly says what it says,” the judge added. “The government is free, of course, to seek further clarification from the Ninth Circuit. But the government is not free to disobey statutory and constitutional law — and the direct orders of this court and the Ninth Circuit — while it seeks such clarification.”

Whitehead issued specific benchmarks that the government needed to meet in the coming weeks to fulfill his order to allow the migrants in question to settle in the U.S.

The refugee program was instituted in 1980 and is separate from the immigration policy that allows migrants to seek asylum in the U.S.

Judge Whitehead was appointed to the court by former President Joe Biden in 2023.

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​Biden judge vs trump, Judge forces 12k migrants, Trump vs judiciary, Politics, Us refugee admissions program 

The shocking murder of a beloved Arizona pastor is raising more questions than answers.

On April 28, Maricopa County sheriff deputies were dispatched to the home of 76-year-old William Schonemann. Known in his community as “Pastor Bill,” Schonemann served as pastor of the New River Bible Chapel for 25 years.

‘Who would do that? Why would anyone hurt Bill?’

At the scene, police discovered Schonemann’s lifeless body.

Detectives initially said little about Schonemann’s death, though they disclosed that “foul play” was observed at the scene. A few days later, the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Pastor Bill’s death a homicide. He had been murdered inside his own home.

Investigators remain tight-lipped about the details. But sources told KSAZ-TV that Schonemann was discovered on his bed with “his arms spread out and hands pinned to the wall,” the outlet reported. Schonemann’s body, moreover, reportedly had “significant injuries,” though the nature of those injuries remain unclear at this time.

As for a motive or a suspect? Police aren’t saying much.

Investigators have only disclosed that there are “specific and unique circumstances” with the case, but they have declined to elaborate further.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputy Will Jinks said the agency is “actively working the case,” but “there are specific and unique circumstances” that “we are not at liberty to discuss to ensure we keep the integrity of the investigation. We hope to have an update very soon.”

As for those who knew Pastor Bill, his untimely death is “unfathomable.”

“Who would do that? Why would anyone hurt Bill? I don’t understand how someone could do something like that. It’s still unfathomable,” said neighbor Eric Asher.

Mike Anders, another neighbor, said their community remains shocked over Schonemann’s murder.

“I mean, we locked our doors last night. It’s just something that we are just not used to doing,” Anders told KSAZ. “Everybody is just, until we know what’s going on, we don’t know if it was a family member, or, we don’t know what, who could do this to him.”

In a statement, Schonemann’s family said:

Our Dad had such a positive impact on people everywhere he went. We will miss the loving guidance and patience. The happiness he showed just getting to walk around an airport, getting his steps in. The creativity of all machines he built. There are never enough words to say it all or to say it as well as a person would like. Simply, he is missed.

Aside from his vocation as a pastor, Schonemann served in the Navy, including a tour in Vietnam.

The investigation into his murder remains ongoing, and you can view a video report here about where things stand.

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​William schonemann, Christianity, Murder, Arizona, Christian, Pastor, Crime 

The Trump administration’s National Institutes of Health announced over the weekend that it had shut down the notorious government research labs that were used to conduct brutal and deadly experiments on dogs.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told Fox News on Saturday that the agency had closed the last of its in-house beagle laboratories.

‘Mr. Fauci’s evil lab has FINALLY been shut down.’

Bhattacharya explained that changing the existing culture within the NIH has been difficult.

“I’ll do some policy change, and people try to find the worst possible spin for it,” he stated. “I put out a policy to make sure that when we have animals in research, that we look at alternatives.”

“It’s very easy to cure Alzheimer’s in mice, but those things don’t transfer to humans,” Bhattacharya continued. “So we put forward policy to replace animals in research with other technological advances — AI and other tools — that actually translate better to human health.”

“We got rid of all the beagle experiments on the NIH campus,” he declared.

Bhattacharya addressed the public’s lack of trust in the NIH, noting that he hopes to reverse this sentiment under President Donald Trump.

The White Coat Waste Project celebrated the NIH’s move to shut down the last and largest in-house dog lab, where more than 2,000 beagles died from “brutal septic shock experiments.”

Under former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, the NIH likely spent “millions of tax dollars” forcing pneumonia-causing bacteria into dogs’ lungs. WCW stated that the bacteria caused the beagles to bleed out and forced them into septic shock.

WCW president and founder Anthony Bellotti stated, “Taxpayers and pet owners shouldn’t be forced to pay for the NIH’s beagle abuse.”

“We applaud the president for cutting this wasteful NIH spending and will keep fighting until we defund all dog labs at home and abroad. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!” Bellotti added.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also praised the Trump administration’s move.

PETA director of science advancement and outreach Dr. Emily Trunell said, “After more than a decade of agitation, tens of thousands of emails to NIH officials from PETA supporters, and a 2021 landmark lawsuit, PETA welcomes the long-overdue news that NIH is canceling at least one of the appalling sepsis experiments that inflicted prolonged suffering on animals in federal and federally funded laboratories.”

Bhattacharya told Fox News that PETA thanked him for eliminating the experiments.

He stated, “Normally, I think NIH directors tend to get physical threats, but they sent me flowers.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) reacted to the Bhattacharya’s announcement.

“You paid over $2 million so Fauci could inject beagle puppies with cocaine. Real science, they said. For years I’ve called out this lunacy. Grateful to [Trump], [Bhattacharya], and [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] for bringing a shred of sanity back to government spending,” Paul stated.

He called the shutdown “one of the best things to come out of DOGE.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) also praised the end of the experimentations.

“Mr. Fauci’s evil lab has FINALLY been shut down,” she wrote in a post on social media. “Beagles & dog owners across America are celebrating the END of this cruelty.”

Greene shared a video with one of the beagles rescued from the dog labs.

“What kind of person would support these terrible experiments??” Greene asked.

WCW stated that “it is 100% confirmed that Fauci’s NIH division funded” the experiments.

When pressed in 2021 about the NIAID’s decision to approve the NIH’s grant funding of the experiments, the agency downplayed Fauci’s role.

“The decision whether to fund a research grant application to NIAID is made through a multi-step peer-review process,” the NIAID told FactCheck.org. “Final funding decisions are made on a group of a few thousand grant applications at a time based on the advice of the Advisory Council and NIAID staff and concurrence by Dr. Fauci. Except in very limited circumstances, Dr. Fauci does not approve funding for grant applications on an individual basis. These limited circumstances did not apply to the research recently highlighted by the White Coat Waste Project.”

The NIAID and the NIH denied funding a study in Tunisia that placed sedated beagles’ heads in cages to allow diseased sand flies to bite them.

“All animals used in NIH-funded research are protected by laws, regulations, and policies to ensure the smallest possible number of subjects and the greatest commitment to their welfare,” the NIAID previously told PolitiFact.

In October 2021, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) sent a letter to Fauci demanding answers about some of the beagle experiments, noting that the “NIAID spent $1.68 million in taxpayer funds on drug tests involving 44 beagle puppies.”

“The dogs were all between six and eight months old. The commissioned tests involved injecting and force-feeding the puppies an experimental drug for several weeks, before killing and dissecting them,” she wrote.

Mace stated in December 2021 that Fauci had not responded to her letter.

During a June 2024 House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing, Greene questioned Fauci about the beagle experiments.

“You did sign off on these so-called scientific experiments, and as a dog lover, I want to tell you this is disgusting and evil what you signed off on. And these experiments that happened to beagles, paid for by the American taxpayer, and I want you to know Americans don’t pay their taxes for animals to be tortured like this,” Greene told Fauci.

“What do dogs have to do with anything that we’re talking about today?” Fauci responded.

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​News, Trump administration, Trump admin, Donald trump, Trump, Jay bhattacharya, Nih, Beagles, Peta, People for the ethical treatment of animals, White coat waste project, Marjorie taylor greene, Mtg, Rand paul, Politics, National institutes of health 

KinderCare Learning Companies is the largest private provider of early childhood education in the country, operating over 2,300 facilities and programs nationwide.

While KinderCare reportedly had the capacity to serve over 200,000 children when the Oregon-headquartered corporation went public in October, its CEO, Paul Thompson, told Yahoo Finance that there was a “lot of opportunity” to serve even more families beyond the 40 states and the District of Columbia where it presently operates.

When speaking with BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey on the Monday episode of “Relatable,” investigative journalist Edwin Dorsey cast doubt on whether families are best served by the growing day care giant, highlighting various complaints about KinderCare across the country, as well as a handful of troubling reports of alleged abuse and/or neglect — including a report of a Wisconsin baby’s alleged exposure to cocaine at a care facility last year and another report concerning a KinderCare worker’s alleged slashing of a toddler with a pizza cutter.

‘Kids were overdosing on drugs brought by the staff.’

Dorsey told Stuckey that he makes liberal use of Freedom of Information Act requests to get copies of the consumer complaints people send to regulators and to state attorneys general offices, and that when it came to KinderCare, he found a “high level of complaints.”

The complaints were primarily about “child safety issues — and not the type of stuff you normally expect where, you know, maybe a kid, like, fights with another kid or somebody has allergies,” said Dorsey. “There is, like, issues where kids were escaping from the KinderCare locations. Kids were getting locked in rooms, you know, with no supervision. Kids were overdosing on drugs brought by the staff.”

Blaze News reached out to KinderCare for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

The investigative journalist concluded in a report last month that KinderCare, which apparently receives millions of dollars in government subsidies, “is a broken business that harms the children and families it claims to help.”

‘This seems like a pretty simple and basic issue for day care.’

One of the incidents that drove the reporter to that determination took place on May 15, 2024, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

After finding scratches and marks on her 11-month-old son when she picked him up from KinderCare, Kimberly Hopson took him to Children’s Wisconsin, where doctors informed her the baby had cocaine in his system, reported WISN-TV.

Investigators subsequently searched Hopson’s home but found no trace of the illicit substance. When they searched the day care, police indicated drug-sniffing dogs found a bag of cocaine in a worker’s backpack in the infant room.

Passion Watson, the KinderCare worker who owned the backpack, was slapped with a misdemeanor drug possession charge to which she later pleaded guilty.

At the time of Watson’s arrest, an attorney representing the drugged child and his family stated, “I would expect that a day care that has that many locations and that type of brand recognition to have appropriate protocols, standards and policies to ensure against what took place.”

A WTMJ-TV investigation revealed that the KinderCare Oak Creek location had over two dozen violations cited by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, including for staff being aggressive with infants, undocumented injuries, and kids having access to power tools and toxic chemicals. The location has since had its license revoked.

Dorsey referenced a 2021 incident where a motorist found a 3-year-old boy wandering near an off-ramp in Milford, Connecticut. When the passerby notified the staff at the Wellington Road KinderCare where his parents dropped him off, staff reportedly indicated they had no idea the boy was missing.

WTNH-TV noted at the time that two years prior, the same location had been cited for 10 violations during an unannounced visit by state licensing inspectors.

“I know of at least three cases where kids are escaping from KinderCare, and this is, like, way more than any other chain,” Dorsey told Stuckey. “This seems like a pretty simple and basic issue for day care — you gotta make sure that the kids can’t escape, and that’s going on repeatedly in KinderCare.”

‘It’s a complete, you know, abuse of taxpayer funds.’

Another example Dorsey identified was the June 13, 2024, incident that took place at the KinderCare center in Rochester, Minnesota.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Andrianna Newburn was initially charged with third-degree assault and making felony terroristic threats for allegedly going into the day care’s infant room and slashing a co-worker’s baby with a pizza cutter.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services cleared the KinderCare facility earlier this year, concluding that the employee was solely responsible for the incident of maltreatment.

Other incidents referenced in Dorsey’s report include the death of an Ohio infant after a stay at a KinderCare location that had multiple serious violations during inspections; a Florida mother’s February 2022 discovery that KinderCare workers had locked her 2-year-old daughter inside and left for the day; a KinderCare teacher’s alleged beating of a 4-year-old boy at a Dunedin, Florida, KinderCare location; and the threats caught on a hidden recording device allegedly issued by workers at a San Antonio KinderCare location.

Dorsey suggested to Stuckey that across the various examples of abuse and neglect, KinderCare appears to have also dropped the ball on transparency with parents, who learned of their kids’ maltreatment through secondary sources.

Dorsey noted further that KinderCare receives a substantial amount of money in federal funding “through the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which was started in 1990 under George H.W. Bush with the idea being that … having kids in, like, informative day cares is so beneficial to early childhood education and to kids’ development that the government should be subsidizing it.”

“The reality is that it’s kind of, like, the opposite,” continued Dorsey. “It doesn’t seem like it’s beneficial to your development to have 20 kids in a room supervised by someone earning $12 an hour in a corporate environment that just doesn’t care about these kids. So it’s a complete, you know, abuse of taxpayer funds. The government has huge ability to flex on these centers.”

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​Kindercare, Daycare, Abuse, Allie beth stuckey, Edwin dorsey, Politics 

CBS News has just released a report accusing Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, surgeon general nominee, of deliberately misrepresenting the truth regarding her academic career — but Liz Wheeler of “The Liz Wheeler Show” has other concerns about Nesheiwat.

Concerns that she believes should lead to the withdrawal of President Trump’s nomination.

“The most serious reason that senators must vote ‘no,’” Wheeler says, is that “Janette Nesheiwat called the COVID vax a ‘gift from God.’”

“She praised Facebook and other Big Tech companies for censoring what she called ‘anti-vax information,’” Wheeler continues. “And remember what these people, how these people, define ‘anti-vax information.’ Anything that discourages people from following their advice is what they consider to be anti-vax.”

“First of all, vaccines save lives, and I am so excited and I thank and I commend Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg for taking action because this affects everyone. This affects our children, it affects adults. I mean, just look at the recent measles outbreak, the biggest outbreak that we’ve had in decades with measles and that’s no joke,” Nesheiwat said in an interview on Fox Business.

“And that’s no joke,” she continued. “Measles can cause brain inflammation and pneumonia and ear infections and hearing loss and death. So it’s about time that they are taking action, and I hope and pray that other social media platforms will follow suit and do the same thing.”

“As if that’s not bad enough, maybe the most polarizing, maybe, maybe, the COVID vaccine is the most polarizing part of COVID. Maybe it was the lockdowns, maybe it was the social distancing, maybe it was the masking, maybe it was closing your businesses, maybe it was masking your children in school,” Wheeler comments.

“Guess who supported masking children in school? Dr. Janette Nesheiwat,” she continues.

In October 2021, Nesheiwat posted on social media that “masks have saved thousands of lives and prevented thousands of infections.”

“No scientific evidence of this, this is a stupid opinion. Not quite as harmful as masking children in school, but stupid,” Wheeler comments.

“There’s simply no question that President Trump should withdraw the nomination of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat from surgeon general, and the senators on the HELP committee in the United States Senate should vote no, should absolutely vote no,” she adds.

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President Donald Trump said that a two-month missile attack on the Houthi terrorist group will cease immediately after the group agreed to stop attacking U.S. ships.

The Iran-backed insurgents have been launching attacks on U.S. ships from Yemen for months, but the president said that he reached an agreement to stop the attacks in the Red Sea waterway.

‘They have capitulated. … They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.’

“They said, ‘Please don’t bomb us anymore, and we’re not going to attack your ships,'” said Trump to reporters on Tuesday.

The Houthis faced a devastating military attack when Israel retaliated for the terror group’s ballistic missile strike against the Jerusalem airport on Sunday. The group has been allied with Hamas against Israel and the U.S. support for Israel’s military campaign.

“They have capitulated, but more importantly … we will take their word,” said Trump at the White House. “They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.”

Trump told Secretary of State Marco Rubio to contact the Houthis about his decision.

“If it’s going to stop, then we can stop,” said Rubio to reporters.

The Trump administration labeled the Houthis a terror group in March, which had been previously identified as a rebel group under the Biden administration.

Human Rights Watch has criticized the Trump administration for the casualties among civilians in Yemen from the U.S. strikes.

“U.S. airstrikes are appearing to kill and injure civilians in Yemen at an alarming rate over the past month under a Trump administration that has loosened policy constraints on the use of force and is seeking to marginalize Pentagon offices charged with mitigating civilian harm,” said Niku Jafarnia, a researcher at HRW.

The president’s Houthi announcement can be viewed on the news video report from PBS News.

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President Donald Trump’s tariffs have reportedly unleashed chaos in China, with workers protesting over unpaid wages and layoffs.

A Radio Free Asia report claims that workers’ protests are spreading across China, prompted by Trump’s 145% tariff on the nation’s imports. It states that hundreds of employees have taken to the streets to demand back pay and challenge layoffs following the abrupt shutdown of some Chinese factories.

‘Their economy is collapsing.’

Workers from one electronic factory reportedly contend that the company has not paid their wages since the beginning of 2025 and that they have not received social security benefits since June 2023.

Those previously employed at other Chinese factories have reported similar issues regarding abrupt layoffs, as well as unpaid wages and benefits.

Shan Hui, chief China economist at Goldman Sachs, estimated that 16 million jobs are involved in producing goods sold in the U.S.

“Prices will need to fall for domestic and other foreign buyers to help absorb the excess supply left behind by U.S. importers,” Shan stated.

Before Trump’s tariffs took effect, China saw strong economic gains in the first few months of the year.

Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated, “The national economy had a steady and good start, continuing the upward trend.”

“However, we must also see that the current external environment is becoming more complex and severe, and the effective domestic demand growth momentum is insufficient,” Sheng added.

Goldman Sachs predicted that Trump’s tariffs would “significantly weigh” on China’s economy.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) recently praised Trump for his actions against China to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.

Mullin told Fox News this week, “President Trump is the first president that we’ve had that actually has a backbone strong enough to stand up and say we’ve got to right this wrong, start manufacturing goods here.”

“China has got rich off our country,” he continued. “Forty percent of all their goods they manufacture are sold back here in the United States. And they rip us off all the time.”

In an NBC News interview released over the weekend, Trump confirmed his plans to keep the steep tariffs against China in place — for now.

When asked whether he would drop the tariffs, Trump responded, “Why would I do that?”

“Would you lower them?” he was asked.

“At some point, I’m going to lower them because otherwise, you could never do business with them — and they want to do business very much,” Trump said. “Their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.”

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​News, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Tariffs, China, Economy, Protests, Trade, Politics 

Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order banning federal funding for gain-of-function research abroad, particularly in countries like China and Iran, deemed to have insufficient research oversight. The order also pauses certain domestic research involving infectious pathogens and toxins until a safer, more transparent policy is developed. It aims to reduce the risk of lab-related incidents, like those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, but doesn’t hinder U.S. innovation in biotechnology.

“This could be one of the most consequential things that Donald Trump will do in his entire presidency,” “Blaze News Tonight” host Jill Savage says.

“This is something that’s just pure justice that needed to be done to save this country from all the crap that we’ve been through in the last few years,” adds Blaze News editor in chief and co-host Matthew Peterson.

He notes that even President Obama, in response to concerns about biosafety risks following lab incidents, paused federal funding for certain gain-of-function research. Fauci, however, “thwarted Obama” and took his research abroad.

“Fauci was able to weasel his way out and continue this dangerous research throughout the world,” Peterson says. “This has to end,” and Trump’s executive order “is a great beginning.”

While it is certainly a good start, Jill points out the obvious next step: “We need people in Congress to step up to the plate.”

“In order to implement the mandate, you need Congress,” Peterson agrees, adding that sadly, “there isn’t a sense of urgency with a lot of these people.”

“Congress isn’t used to getting the job done,” he says. They like to “wait out the executive” and “slow roll things.”

That’s why it’s “vital that everyone out there start calling them and putting pressure on your congressmen.”

To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.

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A 22-year-old North Carolina woman was murdered in a tragic home invasion, according to police — and her shattered father honored his slain daughter with a heartbreaking tribute.

Logan Federico — a 22-year-old from Waxhaw — recently visited friends in Columbia, South Carolina.

‘You might be able to kill my body … but you cannot kill my love that my family and friends shared with me.’

On Saturday, Federico was found dead inside the house.

The young woman’s cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the chest, according to Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford.

During a Monday press conference, officers with the Columbia Police Department said Federico was “randomly murdered by a career criminal” who was “on a spree of thefts, break-ins, and credit card fraud.”

Police named the suspect in Logan’s death as 30-year-old Alexander Dickey.

Investigators believe Dickey broke into a house near the property where Federico was staying. The suspect allegedly stole several items from the house, including a firearm, credit cards, and keys to a vehicle.

Dickey then committed a home invasion where Federico was staying around 3 a.m. Saturday, police said, after which the suspect reportedly fled the crime scene in the stolen vehicle.

Dickey made several purchases with the stolen credit cards across Lexington County before the vehicle he allegedly stole broke down, according to People magazine.

Law enforcement tracked down Dickey at a house in Lexington County, and the suspect allegedly set the home on fire.

Police officers reportedly extracted Dickey through a window and took him into custody.

Citing the Columbia Police Department, ABC News reported that Dickey was charged with murder, two counts of first-degree burglary, weapons possession, and larceny.

The Lexington County sheriff added that Dickey also was charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree arson.

Dickey reportedly was denied bail.

The Columbia Police Department said in a statement, “While Logan was visiting friends in Columbia, her life was senselessly taken. Our deepest condolences go out to the Federico family and all who knew and loved her. No words can ease the pain of their loss, but we stand with them in support and sorrow.”

The statement continued, “We remain committed to pursuing justice and supporting Logan’s family every step of the way.”

Logan’s father — Stephen Federico — made a touching tribute to his slain daughter during a press conference.

“I am Logan Haley Federico’s father, better known as ‘Dad,’ or her hero,” the distraught dad said. “Unfortunately, that day, I could not be her hero.”

He continued, “My daughter, I cherished. She was a strong, fun-loving individual who did what she wanted to do and was spicy.”

The father added, “My daughter was working hard at school, working two jobs to become a teacher. She loved and adored kids, children of all ages.”

Logan’s father delivered a powerful message to his daughter’s alleged killer.

“The message I want to send to Dickey, who took my daughter’s life — this is from her: ‘You can’t kill my spirit. You might be able to kill my body … but you cannot kill my love that my family and friends shared with me,'” Federico declared before breaking down in tears.

You can watch the father’s painful tribute to his slain daughter here.

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​South carolina, South carolina crime, True crime, True crime news, Murder, Home invasion, Crime 

Antifa and anti-Israel protesters temporarily took over a building on the University of Washington’s campus Monday afternoon and later apparently set small fires to express opposition to the college’s partnership with Boeing.

“The University of Washington is a direct partner in the genocide of the Palestinian people through its allegiance to its partnership with Boeing. RALLY NOW outside of the [Interdisciplinary Engineering Building] to take action with these students, alongside the people of Palestine and their brave resistance. Wear a mask, and cover identifiable features,” Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return UW said on Instagram.

‘The fire went on for 45 minutes before anything was done.’

Cam Higby with Today Is America was reporting on scene during the takeover and filmed a crowd dressed in black bloc blocking private security from getting close to the engineering building. The initial set of Seattle police officers was similarly pushed back by the mob.

— (@)

— (@)

“They took over the engineering building, blocked buses and fire trucks in the street, lit fires, and gathered rocks to throw at the police. They threw several Lime scooters and bikes into fire, and the lithium batteries exploded intermittently. The fire went on for 45 minutes before anything was done,” Higby told Blaze Media.

The fire that was set in the middle of the road grew so big that it came dangerously close to campus buildings.

— (@)

Additional officers from Seattle and state police then arrived and set up a perimeter to keep the crowd away as law enforcement moved into the building to arrest the occupiers who were still inside.

“Death to the police!” one masked man shouted at officers.

— (@)

A UW spokesman told ABC News that around 30 people were arrested for trespassing, property destruction, and disorderly conduct. Some of the arrestees were charged with conspiracy to commit all three of those charges and will be referred to the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

SUPER UW said on Tuesday that a few of those arrested were already being released from custody.

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​Politics 

A 20-year-old woman said a male athlete playing against women in rugby pulled her leg out of its socket with strength a woman would never possess.

Elena King plays in the top women’s rugby league in the Netherlands, the Dutch premiership, and recently suffered a devastating injury involving two severed ligaments. King said the injury will likely cause lifelong knee pain, after a man with strength she had not seen from a woman in her sport caused the injury.

“I felt the strength being used against me: It’s nothing that I can explain because I don’t have that strength myself,” she said in an interview with the Times. “A cis woman could not have pulled my leg out of its socket … I heard a really loud pop. That’s when I started screaming. My leg was on fire.”

King spoke out, confused as to why a male is allowed in a women’s professional league, and said she did not want other women to face such painful injuries.

“I do not want it to ever happen to anyone again because I don’t want it to happen to me. It could have been prevented,” she claimed.

In 2020, World Rugby instituted a rule that banned men from playing women’s rugby unless they “transitioned pre-puberty and have not experienced the biological effects of testosterone during puberty and adolescence.”

The governing body has made several statements on the increased risk of injury with males playing in women’s rugby and concluded through their own analysis that there is a 20-30% increase in head and neck strength in male players and 50-100% more upper body strength in men than women.

‘We have women’s spaces for a reason.’

Following the injury, the unnamed male player was suspended indefinitely and forced to participate in a training program.

“A playing ban was imposed to allow the situation to be further investigated in consultation with the parties involved,” said Simone de Bruin, a board member for high performance at Rugby Nederland.

She continued, “Then a development plan focusing on game training was agreed for the player in question. After completing this mandatory training and lifting of the ban, the player will be monitored.”

The governing official then stated that “inclusion, fairness, and player safety are extremely important principles” in rugby due to the higher risk of injury in the sport. The official did not appear to make mention of the increased risk of male athletes injuring women but said the organization will issue advice on transgender policy sometime this year.

The injured King said she believes women are intimidated and are afraid to speak out because they will be labeled as bigoted toward men who believe they are women.

“I think it’s got to do with — a friend of mine calls it — transphobia phobia. Not wanting to be seen as a transphobe, so then not saying anything because, you know, inclusion is important. That’s also not what I’m on about. It’s to do with safety,” the athlete said.

She added, “Women want the best for everyone. We want everyone to feel included, so of course people are like, ‘Why not?’ But then you actually see the reasons why it’s not possible. We have women’s spaces for a reason.”

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​Fearless, Women’s sports, Transgenderism, Rugby, Woke, Sports 

A systematic review published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics concluded with moderate confidence on the basis of 51 studies with over 21.1 million participants that cannabis use during pregnancy can result in early births, low birth weights, and unusually small babies. The review also indicated significantly increased odds of miscarriages.

The study’s authors, all but one of whom are based out of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, noted at the outset that the self-reported use of medical and nonmedical marijuana among pregnant women in the U.S. has more than doubled over the past two decades and continues to increase, despite warnings from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecology.

According to the ACOG’s Committee on Obstetric Practice, “self-reported prevalence of marijuana use during pregnancy ranges from 2% to 5% in most studies but increases to 15–28% among young, urban, socioeconomically disadvantaged women.”

The OHSU researchers behind the new study noted further that marijuana is now reportedly the most commonly used federally illicit drug in pregnancy.

“This is cause for concern,” wrote the researchers, because the main psychoactive component of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol, can cross the placenta and bind to endocannabinoid receptors on preborn babies’ major organs.

The existing scientific literature already associates maternal marijuana use with numerous dire consequences, including stillbirth and fetal growth restriction as well as impaired cognition, decreased attention span, behavioral problems, and compromised visual-motor coordination in prenatally exposed children.

The researchers noted, however, that “clinicians are not consistently counseling patients regarding prenatal cannabis use, partly because of the limited and mixed available evidence.”

‘Ideally, it’s best not to be exposed to THC.’

“Patients are coming to me in their prenatal visits saying, ‘I quit smoking and drinking, but is it safe to still use cannabis?'” said lead author Jamie Lo, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the OHSU School of Medicine. “Until direct harms have been proven, they perceive it to be safe to use.”

“As the prevalence of prenatal cannabis use is rising, there is an urgent need for evidence-driven recommendations on the safety of use during pregnancy and while breastfeeding,” Lo said in March.

Keen to furnish clinicians with a better understanding of the associated risks so that they can confidently counsel mothers regarding prenatal cannabis use, the researchers analyzed 51 observational studies including eight new studies, and raised the certainty of evidence for various potential adverse effects.

The researchers found that prenatal cannabis was linked to a 52% higher risk of premature birth and a 75% higher risk of low birth weight. They also found a 29% higher risk of infant death associated with the use of cannabis during pregnancy.

OHSU researchers revealed in another study recently published in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology that a mother’s use of cannabis while pregnant could adversely impact her baby’s lung development and function, potentially resulting in asthma and other chronic respiratory health conditions.

In addition to jeopardizing the health of babies, marijuana has also been linked to various medical problems in adults, including cancer.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cannabis use can lead to increased risk of stroke, heart disease, and other vascular diseases; can harm lung tissues and cause scarring and damage to small blood vessels; and has been linked to depression, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses.

Lo told CNN, “Ideally, it’s best not to be exposed to THC, which is the psychoactive ingredient of cannabis, no matter what form you’re using.”

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​Science, Health, Marijuana, Cancer, Mental illness, Thc, Weed, Cannabis, Babies, Miscarriage, Mothers, Prenatal, Womb, Pregnancy, Politics 

Venezuela’s regime has been enabling Tren de Aragua’s U.S. border invasion and criminal activity, according to a National Intelligence Council memo released Monday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The memo explained that when the Venezuelan government booted TDA from the Tocoran Prison in 2023, some of the gang’s leaders were allowed to escape because they were “possibly assisted by low-level Venezuelan military and political leaders.”

‘FBI analysts … assess some Venezuelan government officials facilitate TDA members’ migration from Venezuela to the United States and use members as proxies in … the United States to advance what they see as the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety …’

According to Department of Homeland Security findings, Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro may have removed them from the prison “to undercut regional press” that alleged his ties to TDA.

However, the NIC’s memo stopped short of confirming President Donald Trump’s allegations that Maduro directs TDA’s activities. Trump has argued that his regime intentionally allowed TDA to invade the U.S. in an effort to destabilize the country.

While the memo disputed such claims, it admitted that some regime officials “may cooperate with TDA for financial gain,” stating that such instances are “ad hoc” and not an organized effort. Still, the findings supported claims that Maduro’s leadership has enabled TDA and other criminal groups to operate.

According to the memo, Maduro’s regime “generally does not impede” illegal groups, adding that Venezuela’s “permissive environment enables TDA to operate.”

“Some mid- to low-level Venezuelan officials probably profit from TDA’s illicit activities,” the memo added. However, the Venezuelan government “probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States.”

“Some regime officials are probably willing to capitalize on migration flows for personal financial or other benefits, even though the Maduro regime probably is not systematically directing Venezuelan outflows, such as to sow chaos in receiving countries,” it said.

Maduro’s “illegitimate and autocratic grip on power” has enabled “widespread corruption and for regime officials to benefit from a variety of illicit activities,” the memo continued.

The intelligence community argued that Maduro is probably not directing TDA because it would require “extensive” coordination.

“While FBI analysts agree with the above assessment, they assess some Venezuelan government officials facilitate TDA members’ migration from Venezuela to the United States and use members as proxies in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the United States to advance what they see as the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety in these countries, based on DHS and FBI reporting as of February 2024,” it read.

The migration of Venezuelan nationals was attributed to “a variety of push and pull factors including socioeconomic conditions, family ties to the United States, and migrants’ perceptions of U.S. and regional enforcement.”

The NIC findings noted that Maduro’s inaction toward TDA’s criminal activity has benefited his regime, allowing him to “retain power” while dissidents flee Venezuela.

An estimated 7.8 million Venezuelans have fled since 2024.

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The U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary victory for the Trump administration on Tuesday on the president’s policy of banning transgender members of the military.

The court found that a lower court was likely wrong in its finding against the Trump administration and blocking the ban on transgender members. The one-page order from SCOTUS said that the three liberal justices dissented against the majority.

The lawsuit claimed that the ban violated the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection of the law for all persons.

Neither the majority nor the dissent provided their reasoning for their opinions.

The ruling is not a final opinion on the issue but allows the administration to implement the ban as litigation continues.

The president had issued a ban on transgender members of the military in his previous term as well, but former President Joe Biden had rescinded that order when he won office. The ban depends on a report from the Pentagon that found transgender members were a threat to “military effectiveness and lethality.”

The seven plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the ban include current members of the military as well as aspiring members who identify as transgender.

Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign Foundation, which represent the plaintiffs, issued a joint statement decrying the ruling.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a devastating blow to transgender service members who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense,” the statement read.

They added that the lawsuit “has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice.”

The lawsuit claimed that the ban violated the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection of the law for all persons.

Attorneys also accused the administration of claiming transgender people do not exist.

“An unprecedented degree of animus towards transgender people animates and permeates the ban: it is based on the shocking proposition that transgender people do not exist,” lawyers wrote.

The ban has also been blocked by a judge in Washington, D.C., but that has been appealed and is being considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

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