Wednesday, April 16, 2025

April 16, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

White House: Abrego Garcia deportation to El Salvador 'always going to be end result' . . . White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also indicated Abrego Garcia would simply be deported again if he was returned to the U.S. "Deporting him back to El Salvador was always going to be the end result. There is never going to be a world in which this is an individual who is going to live a peaceful life in Maryland," Leavitt told reporters at a briefing.

"Because he is a foreign terrorist and an MS-13 gang member. Not only have we confirmed that, [El Salvador] President [Nayib] Bukele yesterday in the Oval Office confirmed that as well," Leavitt continued. The Hill

Democrats, grasping for issues, think they have found one here. I don't think this is going to resonate with the American people nearly as much as it does with the American press.

Justice Department must provide details of attempts to return illegally deported man, judge says

Politics

Wisconsin Dems Rejected a Visit From Kamala During State Supreme Court Race . . . Wisconsin Democrats rejected Harris's offer to visit during early voting ahead of the April 1 election, fearing that the failed presidential candidate's presence would be "a potential distraction during early voting," sources told the New York Times. Even a Zoom call that Harris held with around 100 Democratic volunteers was kept under wraps until after polls closed, at the request of party officials. Democrats went on to win the Wisconsin race. Washington Free Beacon

Biden Says 'Roughly 30 Percent' of Americans Have 'No Heart' in Crotchety Return to National Spotlight . . . For the first of many, many times throughout his speech, Biden explained that Social Security was so much more than just a government program. "Simple dignity!" he shouted. "Everyone! Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity! Regardless of [incomprehensible]! Regardless economic [incomprehensible]! Regardless who they are!" He slammed Republicans for allegedly plotting to "cut and gut" Social Security, and suggested that "roughly 30 percent of the country ... has no heart." Washington Free Beacon

EPA Chief Lee Zeldin Leading 'Largest Deregulatory Action' with Trillions of Dollars in Cuts . . . The EPA administrator, a former congressman, has moved to cancel over $22 billion in contracts as part of President Donald Trump's initiative to eliminate diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) policies, environmental justice grants, and other superfluous government spending. He emphasized the degree to which the administration has been able to make significant savings by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse at the agency. Breitbart

WATCH: Bernie Sanders' Coachella Speech Proves the Democrats Are LOST

Texas GOP Senate Primary Race Gets Ugly Early . . . Since Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared his run to unseat Sen. John Cornyn, who has represented the Lone Star State since 2002, the two candidates have hammered each other with attack ads that question each other's character and MAGA bona fides. Paxton started out his campaign accusing Cornyn, 73, of not being a genuine supporter of President Donald Trump. "He doesn't represent the values of Texas," said Paxton, 62. Daily Signal

White House Prepares to Go After Noncitizens Who Defraud Entitlement Programs . . . The White House announced Tuesday plans to help protect Social Security benefits from noncitizens and ramp up anti-fraud efforts. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt outlined key points from the memorandum to reporters at a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon. Trump aims to stop noncitizens and "other ineligible people" from obtaining Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits in part by expanding fraud prosecution efforts across the country. The Center Square

Culture

British Supreme Court backs 'biological' definition of woman . . . Judges at the UK Supreme Court have unanimously ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law. It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle which could have major implications for how sex-based rights apply across Scotland, England and Wales. The court sided with campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people that are born female. BBC

Wait a second, since when is Britain more sane than the United States?

As Oregon Defies Trump On DEI In Schools, Its Students Are Falling Through The Cracks . . . When Oregon's Democrat governor announced her state would defy President Donald Trump's ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion, she said she was doing it for a good reason: the kids. That's ironic. Because, under Kotek's leadership, Oregon's students are struggling to get by. Nearly half of Oregon fourth graders scored below "basic" levels in reading, meaning they lack important reading comprehension skills like being able to determine the main idea of a text. In math, about a third of fourth graders scored below basic, meaning they likely struggle with simple concepts like odd numbers. Daily Wire

So half the kids can't read, but at least that will be spread across races and genders equally.

'Queer Scientist' Charged With Firebombing Tesla Dealership, GOP Office in New Mexico . . . The Department of Justice has charged a self-identified "queer scientist" in the firebombings of a Tesla dealership and the Republican Party headquarters in Albuquerque. Jamison Wagner, 40, is accused of setting fire to multiple cars at a Tesla dealership on February 9 and vandalizing the facility with graffiti, including the words "Die Elon," according to a federal complaint. Wagner struck again the following month, prosecutors allege, setting fire to the Republican Party office in Albuquerque and painting the phrase "ICE=KKK" on the building. Washington Free Beacon

Both queer and weird.

National Security

Two Top Advisers to Pete Hegseth Escorted Out of the Pentagon for Alleged Leaking . . . The officials were Dan Caldwell, a top adviser to Hegseth, and Darin Selnick, the Pentagon deputy chief of staff. It is not clear what their motives were, but one official said Caldwell leaking information to "far-left reporters to hurt the secretary." It is also not yet clear what the unauthorized disclosures were, but the Pentagon has been beset by a string of leaks in recent weeks, prompting Pentagon Chief of Staff Joe Kasper to order an investigation. Breitbart

Pentagon's 'SWAT team of nerds' resigns en masse . . . Under pressure from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, nearly all the staff of the Defense Digital Service — the Pentagon's fast-track tech development arm — are resigning over the coming month, according to the director and three other current members of the office granted anonymity to discuss their job status freely, as well as internal emails. The resignations will effectively shut down the decade-old program after the end of April. Politico

2 U.S. troops deployed for border mission killed in vehicle rollover

International

German doctor charged with murder of 15 patients . . . A German palliative care doctor has been charged with murdering 15 of his patients using a cocktail of lethal drugs. Prosecutors in Berlin have accused the 40-year-old of setting fire to the homes of some of his suspected victims to cover his tracks. He allegedly killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024, though prosecutors have said they believe that total could rise. BBC

US pastor kidnapped during church service in South Africa found after shoot-out . . . An American pastor who was kidnapped by armed men during a church service in South Africa last week has been rescued following a "high-intensity shoot-out" that left three people dead, police say. Josh Sullivan was found unharmed in the township in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday evening - the area where the 45-year-old was snatched from last Thursday. BBC

Money

Even With Subsidies, Solar Panels and Other Green Home Upgrades Take Years To Pay Off . . . Even with generous subsidies, green retrofits such as solar panels and heat pumps take anywhere from 8 to 48 years to pay off for homeowners, according to a Washington Post analysis released Monday. Solar panels, one of the most popular retrofits, typically require more than eight years to offset their upfront cost despite existing federal and state incentives that cut their price by more than half, the Post reported based on Harvard University's modeling of a typical American home. Washington Free Beacon

That means the vast majority of Americans who do this to their homes will either move or be dead before they make their money back. Meantime, everyone in China and India will be happily paying pennies for cheap fossil fuels to stay warm.

You should also know

Video || Two Years After Fox Breakup, Tucker Carlson Shares Why His Show Was Canceled . . . "I got fired from Fox for saying things they didn't like," Carlson told The Daily Signal during an exclusive interview at The Heritage Foundation's Annual Leadership Conference. "That's all right, you know. It's not my company," Carlson said of his ouster from Fox, adding, "I wasn't one of those people like, 'You can't fire me.' It's like, of course you can fire me!" Daily Signal

The Who fires long-time drummer, Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey after 'huge fall out' . . . A few issues with the drumming….and the standard wasn't as high as everyone wanted," the source said. Roger Daltrey had gotten upset that Starkey was "overplaying" during the band's gigs in late March. To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can't. All I've got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can't sing to that. I'm sorry guys," Daltrey said to the crowd at the March 30 show. New York Post

Guilty Pleasures

Attractive White Women Dominate WNBA Draft in Huge Win for DEI . . . The WNBA draft on Monday delivered a huge win for advocates of diversity, equity, and inclusion. At least 5 of the top 16 players selected were (arguably) attractive white women, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis. Of the 38 players drafted on Monday, nearly 20 percent were attractive and white, an all-time high based on our limited research. None were transgender or morbidly obese, which just shows that the WNBA still has a long way to go if it wants to be a truly inclusive and equitable organization. Washington Free Beacon

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