Tuesday, March 18, 2025

March 18, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 400 Palestinians . . . Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing at least 404 Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after Hamas refused Israeli demands to change the ceasefire agreement. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel's actions. Associated Press

Gone are the days when the US equivocates over whom to support in the conflict. Israel warned that it will 'show no mercy' on Hamas if its hostages are not returned.

Politics

Trump ends Secret Service protection for Hunter, Ashley Biden . . . President Donald Trump removed Hunter and Ashley Biden's Secret Service detail after learning of the 'ridiculous' cost to taxpayers, citing Hunter's recent trip to South Africa. Joe Biden gave his children six months of Secret Service protection after he left office. It's not an unusual move by a president. Trump gave his children six months of protection after his first term. But Trump blasted Biden's son for going to South Africa and taking his detail, citing the high cost to the U.S. taxpayer. Hunter has 18 agents. Ashley has 13 in her detail. Daily Mail

GOP Lawmakers Push to Impeach Obama-Appointed Judge for Trying to Block Deportations . . . Prominent Republicans in Congress are calling for the impeachment of Democrat-appointed judges, amid a slew of injunctions against President Donald Trump's executive actions. The conservative outcry began when Judge James Boasberg, a 2011 appointee of then-President Barack Obama to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, issued a restraining order against Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to deport alleged Tren de Aragua gang members. Daily Signal

Biden's Inflation Reduction Act could end up costing taxpayers nearly $5 trillion, study says . . . When former President Joe Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in 2022, a Senate one-pager summarized the law as costing taxpayers $369 billion, based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates. A new study from the Cato Institute finds that the law could cost as much as $4.67 trillion by 2050. That's roughly 12 times the stated cost. The study also concludes that the subsidies are undermining innovation and driving investments toward subsidy farming rather than satisfying consumer demand. Just the News

White House Press Secretary Reminds France Why They 'Are not Speaking German Right Now'

Culture

'School officials need to be prosecuted': Girls allegedly forced to disrobe in front of male . . . Illinois's Deerfield Public Schools District 109 is under the microscope on both sides of the Atlantic after parent Nicole Georgas said Thursday at a school board meeting that administrators and teachers entered the junior high girls' locker room to force girls to change into their gym clothes after they refused to do so in the presence of a male who identifies as a girl. Just the News

National Security

'DIRE' CONSEQUENCES: President Trump Sends Stern Warning to Iran Over Houthi Strikes . . . "Let nobody be fooled! The hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN," the president posted on Truth Social Monday. "Any further attack or retaliation by the 'Houthis' will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there." Daily Signal

Trump recognizes the problem that needs to be solved isn't in Yemen, it's in Tehran.

The Justice Department and FBI announce a new task force to target Hamas over Oct. 7 attack . . . The Justice Department on Monday announced the creation of a task force to investigate Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel as well as potential civil rights violations and acts of antisemitism by anyone supporting the militant group. Agents and prosecutors participating in Joint Task Force October 7, or JTF 10-7, will investigate and look to bring charges against Hamas militants directly responsible for the rampage in southern Israel, the department said. Associated Press

Deported Brown University Professor Attended Hezbollah Chief's Funeral . . . Federal authorities found evidence Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University, attended Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's funeral in Lebanon before deporting her on Friday. Alawieh admitted to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents that she was present at the Beirut funeral, claiming she followed his teachings "from a religious perspective," according to court documents the Justice Department filed Monday morning. Washington Free Beacon

International

Hungary's New Plan to Combat Depopulation . . . Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced Friday that the central European country's government approved a measure providing income tax exemptions for mothers. Hungarian mothers who have one child will not have to pay personal income tax until age 30, while those with two or more children will be exempt from personal income taxes for life. Daily Signal

What to expect from the Trump-Putin call on Ukraine . . . Underneath the facade, neither Trump nor Putin trust each other. Smiles and positive gestures notwithstanding, in his first term, Trump pursued the most forceful anti-Russia policy since Ronald Reagan. He authorized lethal aid to Ukraine, sanctioned the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, booted out Russian spies who operated out of its embassy posing as diplomats, and shut down three Russian facilities in the U.S. that effectively served as espionage operating bases targeting the homeland. Rebekah Koffler for Fox News

'End of an era': Last surviving Battle of Britain pilot dies . . . The last surviving Battle of Britain pilot, John "Paddy" Hemingway, has died at the age of 105. Mr Hemingway, who was originally from Dublin, joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a teenager before World War Two. At 21, he was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, a three-month period when air force personnel defended the skies against a large-scale assault by the German air force, the Luftwaffe. BBC

For sure, he never would have guessed as he embarked on his perilous missions that he'd live another 84 years. The last of the so few to whom so much is owed.

Money

Morgan Stanley Went Big on DEI, and No One Is Happy About It . . . Across America, corporate diversity initiatives are in the crosshairs of legal activists and a Trump administration set on wiping them out. At Morgan Stanley, the backlash bubbled up from within. Black and white employees say the efforts added to a divisive culture. Now, as political pressure rises, the bank is watering down initiatives. The bank faces discrimination accusations and lawsuits, including several in recent months, from both white and Black workers. Wall Street Journal

You should also know

Cash Cows: Gangs Allegedly Smuggling Drugs Across Border Inside Cattle . . . The Mexican cartels appear to be smuggling drugs into the U.S. inside cows, according to sources interviewed at the border in Texas and New Mexico last week. The cartels are known to use cattle cars to smuggle drugs, but also seem to be using the cattle themselves as couriers. "When they do the spaying process, they'll ship the drugs in the cows," Hudspeth County, Texas, Sheriff Arvin West told The Daily Signal, adding the cartels are nothing if not "creative." Daily Signal

Starliner astronauts head back to Earth with SpaceX Crew-9 duo to make long-awaited landing . . . Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are heading back to Earth after an unexpectedly long and eventful space mission, and you can watch their homecoming live. Wilmore, Williams, fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov departed the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule "Freedom" early Tuesday morning, setting up their splashdown off the coast of Florida later the same day. Space dot com

Guilty Pleasures

Man found with a live turtle concealed in his pants by TSA at a New Jersey airport . . . A Pennsylvania man who was going through security at a New Jersey airport was found to have a live turtle concealed in his pants, according to the federal Transportation Security Administration. The turtle was detected Friday after a body scanner alarm went off at Newark Liberty International Airport. A TSA officer then conducted a pat-down on the East Stroudsburg man and determined there was something concealed in the groin area of his pants. Associated Press

The man is quite lucky it wasn't a snapper turtle . . .

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