Friday, April 18, 2025

April 18, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Trump Has for Months Privately Discussed Firing Fed Chair Powell . . . President Trump has for months privately discussed firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, according to people familiar with the matter, but he hasn't made a final decision about whether to try to oust him before his term ends next year. In meetings at the president's private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, Trump has spoken with Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, about potentially firing Powell before his term ends and possibly selecting Warsh to be his replacement, the people said. Wall Street Journal

Politics

Trump admin to cut 90 percent of CFPB in latest layoffs . . . President Trump's administration is cutting nearly 90 percent of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's employees in a push to significantly downsize the watchdog agency formed to shield U.S. consumers from financial fraud and abuse. Around 1,500 of the agency's workers are scheduled to be cut, multiple outlets reported Thursday. That would leave some 200 people in place at the agency. The Hill

Finally, this rogue agency inspired by Elizabeth Warren is getting leashed.

Is Ted Cruz running again? Texan carves out unique lane in Trump's GOP . . . Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who finished in second place to President Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, has distinguished himself from MAGA World by declaring his skepticism of long-term tariffs, remaining a hawk on Russia and coming out against proposals to tax the rich. By calling out tariffs as "taxes on American consumers" and sticking to his view that Russia poses a serious threat to U.S. interests, Cruz may be laying the groundwork to run against Trump's heir apparent, Vice President Vance, in a 2028 Republican primary. The Hill

Rubio's firing of Marocco ignites a MAGA world fury . . . Peter Marocco, the Trump administration official in charge of dismantling USAID, left a meeting at the White House last week to return to his office at the State Department. But when he arrived, Marocco could not enter the building: security told him he was no longer an employee there, according to a person familiar with the situation. Word of Marocco's firing quickly tore through the Republican Party and MAGA ecosystem, startling President Donald Trump's loyalists who viewed the aide as part of an elite cohort of administration true believers. Loud voices on the right piled on Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Politico

Rubio's sudden embrace of MAGA has always been suspect.

LeBron James Endorsed Kamala Harris. Then She Paid His Company $50K . . . Kamala Harris's campaign paid $50,000 to the production company of billionaire NBA superstar LeBron James, who endorsed the failed Democratic candidate in a deceptively edited video attacking Donald Trump days before the presidential election. The Harris campaign paid James's SpringHill Entertainment on Jan. 28 for "campaign event production," according to campaign disclosures released this week. Washington Free Beacon

This emerges after we learned her campaign paid Oprah's company $1 million. Where's the investigation and criminal trial that we'd have if Trump's campaign did this?

Pete Buttigieg Claims Trump Is In the 'Early Stages of Consolidating Total Power'

IRS workers only had to show up to work once a week in person, before Trump took over . . . Employees at the Internal Revenue Service only had to show up to work in person once a week before President Trump took over and canned federal telework policies. Under the IRS' most recent collective bargaining agreement brokered between the agency and its union last October, employees were eligible to telework up to eight days per biweekly pay period. New York Post

Making federal workers show up for work. Tyrannical!

Culture

Californians oppose trans athletes in women's sports . . . Most Californians think transgender athletes should be required to play on sports teams matching their sex assigned at birth, rather than their gender identity. Sixty-five percent of the state's likely voters — and nearly half of Democrats — support such rules, according to a poll released Thursday by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. The findings shed light on the motivations of Democratic politicians like Gov. Gavin Newsom who, even in deep blue California, have broken ranks with many in their party. Politico

The National Park Service is Still Promoting Gender Ideology, Alfred Kinsey . . . By celebrating "diverse gender expression" or medical treatments performed "based on a patient's own gender identity," the National Park Service is encouraging Americans to adopt a form of gender ideology aimed at challenging "ideas of normativity" (like that there are only two sexes). This kind of political activism is a departure from the common sense mandate of the National Park Service to protect and preserve places like Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park. Daily Signal

National Security

Blame Democrat Lawlessness for Messy Deportations . . . Where were these hordes of "due process" defenders when Biden was making an absolute mockery of the rule of law and flooding the country with criminals and complex cases? The very reason we have border security is to vet people like Abrego Garcia, to do the due diligence to ensure that we aren't bringing criminals into the country. Now these numerous and sometimes difficult cases must be sorted out by states, local communities, and the federal government on a massive scale. Daily Signal

Chris Van Hollen is in El Salvador trying to clean up the mess he and other Democrats created, not Trump.

President Bukele: Abrego Garcia and Sen. Van Hollen Seen 'Sipping Margaritas' in El Salvador . . . Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., met with deported illegal alien Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, in El Salvador Thursday evening. "Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the 'death camps' & 'torture,' now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador," Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele wrote on X Thursday night in a post with several photos of the two met talking with Abrego Garcia's lawyer. Daily Signal

Appeals Court Upholds Order for Trump Administration to 'Facilitate' Return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

US weapons left in Afghanistan sold to militant groups . . . Half a million weapons obtained by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been lost, sold or smuggled to militant groups, sources have told the BBC - with the UN believing that some have fallen into the hands of al-Qaeda affiliates. The Taliban took control of around one million weapons and pieces of military equipment - which had mostly been funded by the US - when it regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, according to a former Afghan official who spoke to the BBC anonymously. BBC

International

US could abandon Ukraine ceasefire talks in 'days' if progress stalls, Rubio warns . . . U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Friday that the Trump administration is ready to walk away from Ukraine ceasefire talks in the coming days if it becomes clear that a deal is impossible. "We are now reaching a point where we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not," Rubio told reporters at the airport before leaving Paris, where he had traveled to coordinate with allies. Politico

Money

Trump Administration Boasts Manufacturing Loan Surge, Challenging Anti-Tariff Narrative . . . As Democrats criticize tariffs as bad for business, the Trump administration's Small Business Administration announced an almost 75% surge in loans to small manufacturers, The Daily Signal has learned. The number of SBA 7(a) loan approvals for small manufacturers has increased by 74% compared with the same period during the Biden administration, according to the SBA. Daily Signal

You should also know

Florida State gunman used deputy mom's former service weapon to kill 2 and wound 6 . . . The 20-year-old son of a sheriff's deputy opened fire Thursday at Florida State University with his mother's former service weapon, killing two men and wounding at least six others, investigators said. Officers quickly arrived and shot and wounded the shooter after he refused to comply with commands, said Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell. Authorities have not yet revealed a motive for the shooting, which began around lunchtime just outside the student union. Associated Press

Trump's Broad Ban On Risky Gain-Of-Function Research Nears Completion . . . President Donald Trump could sign a sweeping executive order banning gain-of-function research — research that makes viruses more dangerous in the lab — as soon as May 6. The executive order will take a broad strokes approach, banning research amplifying the infectivity or pathogenicity of any virulent and replicable pathogen. Daily Caller

Ex-New York Times editorial page editor apologizes to Sarah Palin at defamation trial . . . An emotional former opinion page editor for The New York Times delivered a tearful apology Thursday to Sarah Palin as he testified about a 2017 editorial that she says damaged her reputation. James Bennet testified that he "blew it" when he erroneously wrote that the former Alaska governor's political action committee had contributed to an atmosphere of violence before a member of Congress was severely wounded in a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona. Associated Press

Guilty Pleasures

Millions will tune in to see Sweden's annual moose migration . . . Nine million people watched Sweden's Great Moose Migration last year, despite not much happening for hours at a time. Ulla Malmgren, 62, said she stocked up on coffee and prepared meals in advance so as not to miss a moment of the event. "Sleep? Forget it. I don't sleep," she said. Sky News

The Swedes have always been among the most exciting people on earth.